There are still barriers that are preventing fathers from taking up paid parental leave, even with progressive changes to legislation that was set to improve men’s access.
Monash University’s Business School recently published a study in the Federal Law Review, exploring and analysing barriers to gender-equal access to paid parental leave. Led by Dr Amanda Selvarajah, the study drew up data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), interviews with human resources professionals and analysis of legislation.
Dr Selvarajah found that while some progress has been made, fathers and partners are still running into obstacles when it comes to accessing paid parental leave.
“Despite a professed intention to improve fathers’ parental leave usage, the PPL Act maintains several barriers that may compromise its gender equal utilisation,” Dr Selvarajah said.
“This is largely because the PPL Act continues to require parents in coupled households to share their payments between them to have an equal entitlement.”
In July 2023, changes to the Paid Parental Leave Act (PPL Act) came into effect that removed gendered assumptions on who, in a parenting couple, is the primary and the secondary carer of a child, which therefore determines the amount of paid parental leave they are eligible for.
Before those changes took effect, it was usually the birth mother who was automatically assigned the primary carer, who received 18 weeks of payments at the national minimum wage, and the father or partner that was the secondary carer, who received two weeks of payments. The legislation changes in 2023 scrapped this practice.
However, the study found parents are still expected to share all but two weeks of payments, as just two weeks of parental leave is non-transferrable. This finding reveals a disregard of the social, financial and biological reasons that birth parents take parental leave first and for longer periods.
Further, in practice, there is still a “primary carer” requirement for parents in workplaces, even with the changes to legislation. And with payments only set to minimum wage, it discourages fathers from taking parental leave, and instead almost incentivises them to go back to work.
According to data from WGEA, only about 68 per cent of organisations with more than 100 employees offer their own paid parental leave policies, meaning they receive full compensation, as opposed to minimum wage.
What’s more, in workplaces that do offer their own policies, only 17 per cent of parental leave use was taken up by men, the WGEA data shows.
The Monash Business School study also interviewed HR professionals, and these interviews found that organisations still define primary and secondary carers in their own workplace policies.
Time limits on the use of parental leave were commonly at a maximum of 12 months, and the average length of employer-provided paid parental leave for primary carers was 12 weeks.
The interviews revealed that there was rarely any flexibility from workplaces on how paid parental leave was used, and there is still a strong, cultural resistance from fathers and partners from taking up leave.
“In the short term,” Dr Selvarajah said, “these findings emphasise the need for organisations to consider the structural and cultural barriers that may be preventing fathers from taking on more caregiving responsibilities.
“If left unaddressed, these barriers will continue to perpetuate gender inequality in the workplace and at home.
“The study reveals how the industry relies on legislation to take the lead in parental leave policy design. Further legislative reforms are crucial to help normalise equal caregiving by both parents, reducing the gender divide in unpaid labor.
“This could lead to broader societal benefits, including improved gender equality in career opportunities and economic outcomes for women.”
Featured image: Dr Amanda Selvarajah from Monash University’s Business School. Credit: Supplied