Shared responsibility

India Inc should take a leaf out of the banking sector’s book and seriously consider extending paternity leave to male employees. As reported in these columns, bank managements — albeit largely public sector banks and a few old private sector ones — have agreed to give their eligible male staff paternity leave on par with their Central government counterparts. The staff will now get 15 days of paid paternity leave. This is in addition to the existing maternity leave benefits extended to female employees under the Maternity Benefit Act 1961, which covers all government, factory, mine and plantation workers, as well as shops and establishments with more than 10 employees. This should not be seen as yet another concession extracted by militant unions in an already well paid and relatively pampered section of the organised sector workforce. Rather, it should be seen as a progressive move that recognises the reality of nuclear families and shared parenthood responsibilities. Paternity leave is granted freely in Europe. In India, it is restricted mainly to a few multinationals; others that have adopted this practice are largely in the technology space.

One could argue that two weeks is a mere token. But even a token gesture can help change mindsets. Childcare responsibilities continue to be borne mostly by women. Allowing fathers some paid time off removes a major barrier to their sharing more of this responsibility. Further, in a country where dependable childcare facilities are practically non-existent, this gives working women some flexibility in balancing work and family responsibilities. India’s poor female workforce participation — only around 23 per cent of women in the working age group are either employed or seeking work, according to NSSO data — is worsened by high attrition due to marriage and family compulsions. According to talent consultancy AVTAR which runs a network to help women re-enter the workforce after a break, around 18 per cent of women employed in the corporate sector leave their jobs every year in India. Almost half the women who enter the organised sector, leave work by mid-career levels, with a majority quitting work between 25 and 35 years of age. This is a waste of skilled resources the country can ill afford. According to a study by UN Women, gaps in labour force participation are not only linked with lower growth rates, but, in South Asian economies, women missing from the workforce results in a reduction in GDP per capita by nearly 19 per cent.

The Centre took the first step by giving paternity leave as far back as 1999, but there has been little follow through at the policy level to ensure that women do not end up carrying the entire load of family and childcare. Existing laws and policies — both for the government and private sector, as well as India’s vast informal sector — need a more family-centric makeover in order to unleash the full potential of India’s demographic bounty.

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