This June, families across the country are celebrating fathers and father figures in their lives. The yearly question of what to get dad for Father's Day will come up, and many kids will begin crafting and signing homemade cards.

The role of fathers has changed drastically over the last few decades. Since the 1960s, research shows dads have nearly tripled their time spent caring for their children and are now just as likely as working moms to say they have trouble managing work and family responsibilities. We are also seeing increasingly diverse family dynamics. For example, over the past few years various reports have shown that 2.1 million men were stay-at-home dads, 2.8 million men were single parents and more than a quarter million men were parenting in same-sex couples. 

Following our Mother’s Day blog post on paid leave, it should not come as a surprise that despite these clear changes in how men see their role, policy is lagging far behind. The United States has no paid paternity leave (or any parental leave at all) and lacks long-term medical and caregiving leave. 

However, the problem of men and paid leave is not isolated to the United States. A 2019 report shows that of the 41 richest countries only 26 provided paternity leave, but 40 of them offered maternity leave (of course, the U.S is the lone outlier on maternity leave). But the problem is even deeper than just having the policies in place. For example, while Korea and Japan lead the world on paternity leave on paper, less than 2% of men in those countries actually use the leave. And this is true even in countries often held up as the “standard” like Sweden, which in the first year of having paternity leave only 0.5% of fathers used the benefit. Sweden and other countries discovered some promising solutions to this problem of men using paid leave when they have access to it.  

Men having and accessing paid leave presents a dual problem: the policy itself and the societal norms associated with it. Research shows that many fathers want to have greater involvement with their families including caregiving and being supportive of their partners’ careers, but outdated gender norms in many workplaces and on Capitol Hill operate under a false assumption that caregiving responsibilities cannot coincide with success on the job. Many men fear retaliation from employers because of taking leave—whether that be by harassment or being passed over for promotions. So how can we create a paid leave program that men will use and that will help families?   

Some key ways to help make paid leave work for men include:  

• Progressive wage replacement: We must offer as close to full pay as possible during leave, especially for the lowest earners, to ensure equitable access.  

• Job protection and anti-retaliation measures: Universal job protection and strong anti-retaliation measures in a national program are necessary for men (and everyone) to feel comfortable taking paid leave.  

• Flexible timing: Allowing men to take leave at any point during the first year of a new child’s life gives families the flexibility to trade off who is the primary caregiver. This helps keep both parents attached to the workforce, while still spending critical time caring for their new child.  

With no national paid leave program in the U.S., paid leave policy has become a patchwork quilt of state programs and individual employers offering the benefit. But this reality has exasperated racial and economic disparities. Currently, men who do have access to leave are disproportionately in higher paid careers and are more likely to be White. Meanwhile, fathers who are low-income and people of color are more likely to not take leave, often because what is offered is unpaid. This giant policy failure is hurting families. We know that fathers who take paid family leave report being more comfortable as active and responsible coparents, their households are less likely to require government assistance, and their families are more likely to see an equitable division of parental responsibilities.  

Caregiving is honorable, difficult and necessary work that is essential for everyone. By valuing caregiving as fundamental labor to our communities and advocating for a federal paid leave program that includes progressive wage replacement, job protection and diverse definitions of family we can support our dads in the way they deserve. This Father’s Day, celebrate paid leave for all by supporting the FAMILY Act which would create a national paid family and medical leave program and allow everyone (dads included) to care for new children, ill loved ones and themselves. Click here to take action in support of paid leave for all.