Women’s Day: Spain gives parents 16 weeks of leave – 08/03/2023 – Market

On January 1, 2021, Spain became the first country in the world where mothers and fathers are entitled to the same leave for the birth of a child: 16 non-transferable weeks and 100% paid.

Two years after the entry into force of a measure that many specialists consider crucial for the promotion of gender equality, official data and surveys reveal that the majority of men are making use of their licenses and believe that this will promote co-responsibility for children’s care.

But they point out that there are differences: while women tend to take their leave continuously, men fragment theirs so as not to spend so much time away from work. Meanwhile, some companies are taking innovative measures to encourage their (male) employees to care for their children.

A survey by economist Cristina Castellanos-Serrano qualifies as a “success” the reform that equalized licenses, insofar as most men use their full paternity leave. “This has not been achieved in any other country,” she points out.

Citing the findings of other studies, she says that in Spain men take paternity leave “on a massive scale, whatever their economic situation, social class, type of contract and level of education”.

Sociologist Teresa Jurado, member of the Platform for Equal and Non-Transferable Birth and Adoption License (PpiiNA), also believes that there was an “enormous effect” that triggered a cultural change.

“Since the debate over the length of leave was resolved in 2007 and maternity and paternity leave have been progressively equalized, society has embraced the idea that men should take care of their babies. their children, are participating more in childbirth preparation classes and are attending their children’s school events. Today this all seems normal to us, but it is still not the case in other countries. Companies also accept that men will be absent , and that’s an important change,” she says.

Jurado points out that a key factor in this evolution is the fact that employees receive 100% of their remuneration during paternity leave: studies indicate that men only take paternity leave if they are well paid. But both Jurados and Castellanos-Serrano warn that it is still too early to see the impact of this change reflected in macroeconomic figures.

Of course, not everything is ideal. Statistics show that men and women continue to use their license in different ways, and this has consequences. Women take it continuously, while men tend to divide it into parts. And many heterosexual couples take their licenses simultaneously.

“Paternity leave allows men to spend much more time with their babies, and this changes the dynamics of care. But these changes are even more pronounced when men take their leave consecutively to that of their partner, and not simultaneously. In these cases, both father and mother have time to learn, to be fully responsible for the baby and to be able to take care of their child alone.This influences the dynamics created from the moment the couple returns to work, because it turns both into primary caregivers. The more the father takes care of his child, the less the impact of child care on the mother’s work environment”, says Castellanos-Serrano.

Paco Abril is a sociologist and researcher who studies gender and masculinity. It is part of the Men In Care project, which, among other things, offers workshops and training courses to private companies and public institutions to promote awareness of co-responsibility and help change the dynamics of companies and families.

In these workshops, Abril talks to the participants “about how they were socialized as men, what it means to care, how the sharing of responsibilities works and so on. We try to bring their life experience to the workshop and discuss issues from there.”

The discussion then moves on to companies, “to understand that organizations also have a gender that is expressed in the relationships, dynamics and culture of the organization”.

April opens discussions on the cultural dynamics that prevent women from reaching positions of responsibility, in addition to the idea that people who occupy certain positions need to be always available for work or meetings in their free time.

The workshop ends with tips on how to help people and companies balance their personal and professional lives. “The most important thing is not to turn this into a personal negotiation between the company and the employee, but a dialogue about established rights.”

The supermarket chain Sorli is one of the companies that has been offering the workshop to its employees. This was part of a broader effort to extend policies such as flexible working hours to all of its employees equally. Of the 1,950 people who work at the network, 63% are women. “Since 2020 we are witnessing a change: maternity and paternity leave are very balanced, men and women take them equally”, says Alba Martínez, director of the labor area of ​​the human resources department. But there are still disparities.

For example, she says that 98% of requests for reduced working hours are granted to women. With regard to leave, the company has also observed that women take it continuously, while men divide it intermittently, extending it for a longer period.

Both mid-level and senior employees have already attended the workshop. “Working with new images of masculinity is part of our Equality Plan,” says Ester Guillamet, Grupo Sorli’s equality specialist.

“The fact that the company devotes resources to this type of training shows that employees view this issue as very important.”

She believes that changes are taking place in the organization’s culture due to this, such as an improvement in communication, a breakdown of stereotypes, and the fact that people are increasingly benefiting from their right to a balance between work and private life, without fear of incurring negative consequences. After the pandemic, the company carried out a survey to analyze the impact of these initiatives on the way child care is organized. “It was a way to raise awareness and continue to work on measures that promote co-responsibility.”

Workshops are not always easy. Abril recognizes that it has already encountered real resistance – in some places, very strong. “Some people stand up to say that there is no problem at your company. Meetings need to be approached with patience. You need to present evidence with data. But there are also people who are very open-minded, people who understand inequality and the need for change “, he speaks. The sociologist also detects a generational change.

“The younger generations of men have changed their way of thinking and their priorities; career is very important, but you can see that they value taking care of their children. They want to be there for them.”

Juan García Caja also attended one of the Men In Care workshops. He did so as an employee and director of the NGO Sifu, which works to include people with disabilities in society and the job market. “We did it to see the power of this type of action and to see if it could help us to promote equality, especially with men who take on domestic responsibilities,” he says.

Caja thought that after the course the employees had better assimilated the notion of equality. “They understood that we are not isolated, that the same problems that exist outside the organization are created within it. And it is good that we improve internally as much as possible, because this will end up having repercussions for society.”

The pattern observed elsewhere was repeated at Sifu: men and women have equal leave, but men tend to divide theirs into several periods, while women take theirs continuously.

The group introduced one more measure to encourage co-responsibility: all people who have children can benefit from a reduction in the working day in the child’s first year of life, maintaining their salary. The objective is that the decision about who will stay at home in the first months of the baby’s life, after the end of the leave, does not depend on which member of the couple earns more.

Translated by Clara Allain.

This story is being published as part of the “Towards Equality” project, an international and collaborative initiative that includes 14 media outlets to present the challenges and solutions to achieving gender equality.