OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Drawing on the practices and experiences of 25 countries, an ILO study shows how governments, employers' organizations, and trade unions around the world bring gender equality into their institutional structures, policies, programmes and activities.

Scandinavian countries, some of which instituted paid maternity leave in the nineteenth century, have moved on to pioneer a range of innovative ideas - including guaranteed rights to childcare, shared access to parental leave, "daddy leave", and cash payments for home-based care. Most countries in the European Union (EU) offer paid paternity leave, from two days in Spain to two weeks in France, while Norway - which outside the EU - tops the list as the most family-friendly country with a full four weeks.

Rights and entitlements with regards to parental leave and pay compensation are established by law in Norway. In developing the legal framework on parental leave, equality of opportunities has been a guiding principle, with a view to both promoting women's labour market participation and encouraging men to spend more time at home taking care of their children.

Norway introduced the four-week paternity quota in 1993. The provision sets aside four weeks of the parental leave for the father with the purpose of encouraging more fathers to take an active role in the care of children during their first year. These four weeks cannot be transferred to the mother and are lost if the father does not use them.

The paternity quota actually leads to an extension of parental leave, since it does not come at the expense of women's opportunities in relation to leave. Fathers are granted this quota regardless of whether the mother remains at home after delivery or not, which means that both parents can stay at home during the father's period of leave. However, the father is not allowed to take the leave during the first six weeks after the baby is born. The scheme has significantly increased the number of fathers taking paternity leave.

Extended paternity leave Now, the Norwegian government has proposed in its revised national budget that paternity leave should be extended by an additional week. This proposal means that parental or adoption leave will now be extended beyond a total of one year.

The proposal will apply to parents of children born or adopted after 1 July 2005. Under the terms of the new proposal, parental and adoption leave will be extended by one week, with the additional week being reserved exclusively for use by fathers. This will raise the father's quota to a total of five weeks. Putting an end to discrimination Previously, paternity and adoption benefits paid to many fathers were reduced in proportion to the mother's earned rights. Men only received maximum benefits if the child's mother had worked more than 75 per cent of a full-time post.

Men whose spouses/partners had worked between 50 and 75 per cent of a full-time position had their benefits reduced to correspond to the mother's position.

Many men lost so much in financial terms that they had to make do with two weeks' leave on full pay instead of four weeks on half pay. This discriminatory practice has now been brought to an end, and fathers now receive paternity benefits based on their own earning rights.

Many men due to take paternity leave can rejoice that little bit extra, since they will be receiving more benefits while they spend time at home with their child. The reason for this is that a larger number of fathers will receive paternity benefits calculated on the basis of their own employment level. Until now many newly fledged fathers with spouses who were in part-time employment had been discriminated against and penalized financially when they took their paternity leave.

Thus, the total amount of parental and adoption leave has been increased from 52 to 53 weeks at 80 per cent of full pay, or from 42 to 43 weeks at 100 per cent of full pay. This extension is conditional on the child's father taking the extra week of leave.

The proposal applies to fathers who are entitled to the paternity quota. If the father has been exempted from the paternity quota, or is not entitled to paternity leave, the extra week will pass to the mother. The same applies if the mother has sole responsibility for the child.

From: ‘Modern Daddy’ by MHasse Berntsen, editor of Arbeidsliv (Norwegian version of World of Work)