Karina Gould’s parental leave is similar to that of many Canadians. Yet there are key differences, and they offer lessons on how parental leave could be redesigned to help more Canadian parents.
If more Canadian fathers are to harness the benefits of parental leave and remote work, we need to design employment and care policies in ways that recognize every family’s unique needs.
Darby Saxbe, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences dan Magdalena Martínez García, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón IiSGM
Neuroscientists know that pregnant mothers’ brains change in ways that appear to help with caring for a baby. Now researchers have identified changes in new fathers’ brains, too.
Labor and the Coalition have announced their parental leave policies. If you are planning to have children, you should be familiar with what they’re offering.
Mothers with young children are consistently identified as having lower levels of physical activity and leisure opportunities, which place their physical and mental health at risk.
Current parental leave schemes reinforce old gender stereotypes and the pay gap between women and men. Overseas experience shows better targeted leave for new fathers helps everyone.
You might expect progressive policies in our universities, but a parental leave system of primary and secondary caregivers – the first 93% women, the second 96% men – perpetuates the gender gap.
Whatever the eventual impact on women’s candidacies post-pandemic, COVID-19 has the potential to shock the system, upending or reinforcing existing gender imbalances in political power.
Professeure à l'Université TELUQ, Université du Québec, directrice de l'ARUC sur la gestion des âges et des temps sociaux et de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur l'économie du savoir, Université TÉLUQ