In recent times, it looks like the country’s steps to address gender equality are actually distancing our society from it and promoting stereotypes. With her recent remarks on maternity and paternity leave, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, has perhaps increased gender discrimination and typecasting. While her move to extend maternity leave from the existing 12 to 26 weeks is highly commendable, her statement about paternity leave being just a “holiday for a man”, has received flak from people of various stratas, saying that her view widens the existing gap even further by excluding men from the conversation of raising children.
We speak to a few mothers and fathers as they tell us why paternity leave is the way forward to achieve gender equality.
Reinstating biases
Vidya Lakshmi, a 33-year-old mother with two young children, tells us her story — “Our society is biased in favour of men, and through statements like these, we’re only reinforcing such views. I was a software professional and had to quit my job three years ago during my pregnancy. Now, I’m struggling to find ways to work from home or get back onto my career path. My husband, as a senior manager, could take paternity leave for a while, and it was quite helpful. Paternity leave is definitely needed, because raising kids is also a father’s responsibility.
However, fathers should also be given the right knowledge on taking care of children and taught to be responsible. The whole topic points to the larger issue of how men in Indian society are raised — pampered, and not instructed to be a part of household activities. It is unfortunate that India’s idea of family depends entirely on women taking all the burden.
A shared responsibility
Dr Mahesh Joshi, CEO of Apollo Hospitals’ Home Healthcare, feels that as a parent it is also the father’s responsibility to take care of the child. “It is unfair to paint all the men with the same brush. Yes, traditionally, a mother has played the dominant role in the upbringing of children; but times are changing. In fact, the only time my boys want to be around their mom is when they fall sick. Also, being in the home healthcare business and attending on quite a few newborn babies, I’ve seen that first-time fathers are equally, if not more, indulgent in attending to the needs of the baby,” says Dr Joshi.
Men meant for The field alone?
Piyush Jha, film director, screenwriter, and novelist says, “As usual, men are always the bad guys. Perhaps one should understand that the whole system is geared towards men staying in the office. Take the case of the senior government officer who was denied a half-day’s leave when his son reached out to him on the brink of a suicide. The attitude of officialdom is that the man should be in the office and the wife/grandparents will take care of home and family matters. Why doesn’t Maneka Gandhi put the cart before the horse and see if it makes a difference, instead of waiting to see enough numbers until they take a decision. Our leaders have stopped being visionaries and can only respond in knee-jerk reactions.”
(With inputs from Bhavana Akella)
