Why the World Needs to Support Stay-at-Home Dads

Are dads in the United States empowered to stay home and help raise their children?

Sadly, the answer is "no."

According to the website GreatPlacetoWork, only 21% of workers in America have paid access to paternity leave. And with women earning only 82% of what men make in the workplace (Pew Research, 2022), many families simply can't afford to have the father take significant time off to parent.

A new study by Equimundo, shared yesterday on the NPR show "All Things Considered," revealed that "although a lot of fathers out there have a desire to take on more domestic and childcare responsibilities, stringent gender rules and a lack of social support may discourage them from doing so." The study surveyed 12,000 people from 17 countries.

My father who adopted me, Robert Hornsby, worked 50-60 hours a week as a union plumber. A week after my mother died (when I was eight and my brother was five), dad went right back to work. He didn't have any other choice. He was the sole provider for our family. I have to think that if he, as a father (not to mention a widower and a single parent) was allowed to take time off work to parent us, he would have taken it. But there wasn't any HR PTO time for dads to be dads.

Kids need their dads just as much as they need their moms, and many of us have a single parent who has to be both due to circumstances out of their control.

What can we do as business leaders, HR professionals, entrepreneurs and employees to ensure fathers have support for paid paternity leave? Let's make it normal for dads to take time off to parent!

Share your comments and tag an organization that should be praised - or might need to be nudged - about fatherhood programs in the workplace.

I'm grateful that Save the Storks offers both maternity and paternity paid time off for parents on our staff.

Listen to the NPR interview here: https://lnkd.in/gVKqRA8M