Affording to start a family when female is breadwinner

onlyroz

Person_one wrote: »

Well, I did. I think it should be 50/50, 6 months each. The child is 50% of their DNA after all, and the idea that they each have 50% responsibility should start early so that we don't keep feeding the sort of discrimination that affects so many women at work and keeps the pay gap widening.

Well I wouldn't go as far as making it mandatory but we should provide more incentives for fathers to take time off for their kids. We need a societal shift where it becomes the norm for both parents to share the leave *and* share the economic activities that bring money into the household. But telling families what they must do rarely goes down well.

ibizafan_2

Although not relevant to the UK, my son and his girlfriend who live in Australia decided to work it so that she looked after their daughter for the first six months, and he is doing the next six months. She earns a lot more than him, so it's made sense, although he is doing his accountancy exams, so hopes to improve his earning power eventually. He is really enjoying looking after her which is nice. After his six months is up, they will have to decide on nursery and working hours, as Australia is very expensive for childcare. They are looking at the options. Actually, they managed fine on his salary for six months, as Australian maternity pay isn't as generous as the UK unless you work in the public sector.

onlyroz

HappyMJ wrote: »

One workplace I worked at in the past openly admitted they would not employ a woman of child bearing age in their 20's or 30's due to the high costs of maternity pay and leave. It's not easy to find "a good employer" when you're looking for work you will take anything on offer.

Their eyes will be opened when more and more men start exercising their right to extended parental leave.

LannieDuck

Person_one wrote: »

Not every woman can express, some try and never manage to produce enough to fully meet the baby's needs no matter how much effort and organisation they put in.

I don't disagree. Just pointing out it might be an option.

Similarly, not every woman can breastfeed.

Artytarty

I'm reading this thread with interest.
Has anyone been able to cope when both mother and father are self employed?
Do you get any maternity pay at all, obviously no leave.

HappyMJ

onlyroz wrote: »

Their eyes will be opened when more and more men start exercising their right to extended parental leave.

With only one in 100 men actually taking the shared parental leave I don't see that happening any time soon.

Every single woman takes at least 6 weeks at 90% pay. There's no need to go to work when you get 90% pay.

Typically despite many years of improving equality the male in a relationship is older more experienced and earns more than the mother. A man generally won't take the leave to which they are entitled as they pay cut would be too much.

If as was suggested earlier the man gets full pay or at least 90% pay then almost every man in the UK would take some of the leave. They won't want to go from average pay down to £139.58 per week.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/apr/05/shared-parental-leave-slow-take-up-fathers-paternity

Scorpio33

onlyroz wrote: »

Well I wouldn't go as far as making it mandatory but we should provide more incentives for fathers to take time off for their kids. We need a societal shift where it becomes the norm for both parents to share the leave *and* share the economic activities that bring money into the household. But telling families what they must do rarely goes down well.

I personally don't think we need more incentives for fathers to take time off, as I think most fathers do want the time off to spend with their families.


The issue is that employers have little incentive to provide it to all employees. They are required to employ staff who are the best suited for the job, so would inevitably employ women. So most employers then provide maternity pay as they have to, not because they want to. Most companies provide women with more than the statutory, hence if the company sticks to the bear minimum, they would be losing out on good employees.
But the same can't be said for men. The majority of firms provide one weeks full pay, then a weeks statutory pay. Despite the government now changing things so that statutory maternity can now be split, most firms won't split the "enhanced" part of the leave. That means that men are "stuck" in accepting the two weeks leave. I think if companies started offering men enhanced paternity leave, that is when things will start to change.

Can't see it happening anytime soon though.

HappyMJ

Artytarty wrote: »

I'm reading this thread with interest.
Has anyone been able to cope when both mother and father are self employed?
Do you get any maternity pay at all, obviously no leave.

You plan far in advance if you're self employed.

Self employed mothers earning less than the LEL of NI can get Maternity Allowance instead.

It pays up to £27 per week for 14 weeks.

LannieDuck

HappyMJ wrote: »

With only one in 100 men actually taking the shared parental leave I don't see that happening any time soon.

The recently reported figures stating that only 1% of men have taken it are, in fact, wrong - they refer to all men of working age, not new fathers (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075thgl).

I'm not sure what the correct figures are, however.

[Edit: Possibly 30%? http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/shared-parental-leave-take-30/]

onlyroz

HappyMJ wrote: »

With only one in 100 men actually taking the shared parental leave I don't see that happening any time soon.

I believe that statistic was refuted. They basically took *all* men (whether or not they had a child) and found that only 1% of them took shared parental leave.