Opinion: In my view - A fair share for fathers

This news is good for families, and also good for business. It opens up new choices to many parents about how to look after their newborn child; and by giving fathers new rights at work, it begins to tackle gender inequality in the workplace, which costs the UK so dearly.

It will be welcomed by parents because it gives them more choice about who stays at home to care for a new baby in the family. In one third of families today, the woman earns the same as or more than her partner, so it makes good sense to open up greater choice. And, regardless of family income, many fathers would like to be able to take time off work when their child is young, but only have the right to two weeks paternity leave just now. This transferable leave will enable some to take time off to care for their child while the mother returns to her job.

It also marks a step forward in terms of changing the attitudes of employers to new parents. Gender inequality in the workplace is estimated to cost the UK a staggering £23bn. We cannot afford to carry on throwing away money and talent like this. This small step will begin to make fathers visible at work, and may help employers reconsider outdated assumptions that caring for a new baby is automatically 100 per cent the responsibility of the mother.

We'd prefer to see a much stronger right, an independent right to properly paid time off for all fathers, not a transferable right available only to those fathers whose partners choose to return to work before the end of their maternity leave. Experience in other European countries shows that this is what works best, and is most likely to lead to greater involvement with their children by fathers. But until then, this is a good start.

www.workingfamilies.org.uk