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Writing in the , Professor Marian Baird and Associate Professor Myra Hamilton from the University of Sydney Business School argue that more opportunities for fathers to take parental leave would make inroads for women鈥檚 workforce participation rates.

Despite the fact most primary and secondary carer paid parental leave schemes are accessible to both women and men, shows 95 percent of primary carer paid parental leave was taken by mothers and 95 percent of secondary carer leave was taken by fathers.

鈥淭he introduction of the Australian Paid Parental Leave Act in 2010 was a giant leap forward but the basic structure of the scheme has barely changed in a decade,鈥� Professor Marian Baird said.

鈥湼咔甯＠�片 shows that opening up opportunities for fathers to take paid carer leave will make significant headway towards gender equality. But after almost a decade since the Act was introduced, there鈥檚 been no movement in the duration of leave that鈥檚 accessible through paid secondary carer leave provisions like Dad and Partner Pay.鈥�

While Dad and Partner Pay was a significant amendment to the original scheme in 2013, it provides only two weeks of pay and has had minimal uptake: an estimated 25 percent of eligible fathers and partners accessed the payments in 2018-2019, according to .听

鈥淭he short duration of secondary carer leaves like Dad and Partner Pay emphasise the role of fathers as 鈥榮upporters鈥� at the time of birth, rather than being substantially involved in the care of their children in the early years,鈥� Associate Professor Myra Hamilton said.

鈥淲hile having time together at the birth of a child is important for couples and babies, the sharing of primary care over a longer period is what will lead to more gender equitable outcomes.鈥澛�

The fact that both Paid Parental Leave and Dad and Partner Pay are paid at the national minimum wage is another barrier to uptake by men.

鈥淐lauses, policies or workplace contexts that incentivise shared use of paid primary carer leave by mothers and fathers would also lead to more equitable outcomes. So, it鈥檚 not just policymakers who need to be part of the solution, but employers and unions too,鈥� Associate Professor Hamilton said.

In the paper, 鈥�?鈥�, the researchers outline why design features of the original scheme like prohibiting the equal sharing of leave between mothers and fathers meant that it was almost exclusively taken by women.

鈥淚t was 鈥榩arental leave鈥� in name and was technically available to either parent but was clearly targeted at the birth mother. While there have been improvements like the introduction of Dad and Partner Pay and, more recently, allowing some flexibility in the use of the 18 weeks, 聽these incremental policy shifts have done little to shift the dial on gender equality,鈥� Professor Baird said.

鈥淕overnments need to work in consultation with employers and unions to improve the architecture of the original paid parental leave scheme, meeting the expectations of working mothers and fathers today.鈥�

Declaration

The authors received funding through the Australian Research Council鈥檚 for this paper. Professor Marian Baird was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the when the paper was submitted but was not involved in the Special Issue peer-review process.