Now move paternity leave beyond talk
The issue of granting paternity leave in Jamaica is not new. In fact, the last time it was raised on a national scale was in November 2018 when the country was told that the Government is facilitating discussions on the introduction of a Paternity Leave Act.
At the time, Mr Denzil Thorpe, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment, and Sport, told an International Men’s Day forum at The University of the West Indies that the proposed Act would be in line with the recommendations of the National Policy for Gender Equality.
According to Mr Thorpe, consultations were being planned to determine “the relevance of paternity leave to the Jamaican society and the parameters of the Paternity Leave Act”.
Added Mr Thorpe, “This is of major significance as the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport seeks to introduce paternity leave as a benefit to men as fathers, as part and parcel of the Jamaican workforce. It is well established that for gender to be truly transformative it has to be inclusive.”
The proposed Act was endorsed by Professor Opal Palmer Adisa, director for the Institute of Gender and Development Studies, who was reported by the Jamaica Information Service as saying: “It is an amazing thing to see how it grows a man to grow his child and to be involved in every aspect of his child’s development. Paternity leave is extremely important, because we want to shift the paradigm that says it is the mother’s job. It is both parents’ job.”
She is, of course, correct. Growing children is indeed the job of both parents – parents who are responsible, set good examples for their children, and who instil in them the tenets of good human behaviour that will transform them into well-adjusted adults.
Hopefully, that is a culture that will be fully accepted and lived by more Jamaicans, as too many of our youngsters, and in some cases parents, are straying down a path that can only lead to deep regret and misery.
That the Government has seen it fit to again place this issue before the nation is most welcome. However, we will wait to see if this is just mere talk, in keeping with the modus operandi of successive administrations to make grand announcements only for them to fizzle for lack of implementation.
In the current instance, the Government has said that it intends to introduce paternity leave for fathers of newborns, family leave for adoptive parents who are bringing a new child into the home, and will increase paid maternity leave from 40 days to three months for public sector workers.
The leave entitlements, Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke said last week, are part of the public sector compensation restructuring exercise. The announcement, we note, was short on details; therefore, we await information on how these benefits will be structured.
The Government may want to look at what now obtains in the few private sector companies that provide paternity leave and fashion a template for the public sector.
Additionally, the State could examine the provision in other jurisdictions and the impact it has on creating stable family life, as well as how it affects production.
There are, indeed, a number of variables to consider. The Government, therefore, needs now to move beyond announcement.