Men are also parents, even though we often forget the male side of becoming a parent. And as parents, they also have the right to a leave of absence from work in the first weeks of their children's lives. This year, the absence of journalist Toni Cruanyes from the TV3 television channel was much commented on, with a surprising amount of expectation generated given that there was nothing exceptional about his decision. Cruanyes took advantage of his right to paternity leave after adopting a child: 13 uninterrupted days (although this can vary depending on labour agreements or special situations) to begin to enjoy this new life experience.
He is not the only Catalan employee who has taken paternity leave this year. Between January and June 2015 the Social Security department processed 22,306 cases of parental leave in Catalonia, a 2.65% rise over the previous year. It is the autonomous community for which the Spanish State has managed the most leaves of absence, followed by Madrid and Andalusia.
Of the 24,553 cases of parental leave processed in Catalonia, a total of 24,119 were for mothers and only 434 were granted to the father. In other words, out of the 10 weeks that the law grants to mothers –after the six weeks of obligatory leave- in only 434 cases was leave granted to men so that they could extend a period of time off work that many consider to be too short and unfair.
It is a situation that concerns the association, Homes per la Igualtat de Gènere (AHIGE) Catalunya. Its president and coordinator, Paco Abril, points out that "the period of maternity leave is very short. We want men to get 16 weeks because when maternity leave ends, the children have to be looked after by grandparents, or go to the nursery, or one of the parents is forced to stay at home." In the sociologist's opinion, "if parents could share leave between them, it would be fantastic for the couple, society, demographics and even the economy."
According to Abril, "there are approximately 80% of men who take a fortnight's leave, with the 20% who do not do so being people in positions of responsibility, directors or middle management." It is with these people who Abril believes "work needs to be done to make them understand that providing a good example consists in taking this leave."
The director's example
Albert Riera, director of communications at La Fageda, is one of those fathers who, despite the current law, preferred to modify his paternity leave in order to share the care of his newborn with his wife. Father of a large family, in his case he accumulated 20 days that he chose to turn into 40 part-time days. "I did it like that because in small companies like mine, in which you have to give your all just to keep advancing, it is hard to take leave of absence, but it also has something to do with the company culture," he says. It was not for nothing that La Fageda was awarded the 2014 "Family" prize –given by the Grup d'Entitats Catalans (GEC) de la Família- for its social and family policies in balancing the family and working lives of its employees, and Riera confirms that flexibility is a characteristic of the organisation.
It is clear that the role of fathers is changing in Europe and workers are increasingly keen to spend time with their families. This is one of Abril's conclusion, who, as a professor at the Universitat de Girona, is the author (jointly with Alfons Romero) of the study "Measures for incorporating men into family reconciliation policy" (2008) which analyses equality policy in different countries, including the Spanish State. The study relates the results of interviews with 55 employees and directors of public and private companies in Germany, Slovenia, Iceland, Norway and Spain. The report shows, apart from the differences between countries, those that exist between different positions in the company.
"I remember interviews with directors who do not take paternity leave because they think it gives a bad image, or in meetings, which finish very late, they find it very difficult to say that they would like to finish earlier in case it is taken badly." Riera agrees that it is "complicated" for directors to manage both priorities, which makes the attitude of the company a key factor. At La Fageda, there are five female directors, two of whom are mothers, two who aren't and fifth who soon will be. "She does her hours and leaves on time, but here we have a lot of respect for that. The company is very flexible," says Riera.
Abril's study analyses the family reconciliation policies of the education department of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the MRW company, and after studying both organisations, concludes that men complain of a lack of information and even a "certain confusion" about the family reconciliation measures at their disposal.
On the other hand, in the Catalan public sphere this 'flexibility' has been established since 2005 with the approval of civil servants who are fathers being allowed leave of four weeks. Since then, the new equality law applying to women and men that was passed in July 2015 says that companies that want to achieve excellence should provide individual and non-transferable paternity leave of four consecutive weeks starting at the end of the period of maternity leave established by law. Yet, the extension of paternity leave from a fortnight to a month, despite the approval of equality legislation in 2007 meant to have come into effect in 2011, continues to be frozen by the Spanish government.
'Equal' leave
In the opinion of Ángeles Tejada, president of the Labour Relations and Human Resources commission at the business association Foment del Treball, there is still much work to do in this area. "The ideal thing would be to have equal parental leave, so that taking a break from the company does not fall only to the woman, but I think that right now there would still be plenty of problems with its acceptance by businesses and people in general because women tend to think we have to be superwomen. We think that our partners cannot do what we do," she reflects.
Tejada, who is also the managing director of Randstad's Public Affairs department, insists that there are many companies that still do not take paternity leave into consideration. "It happens in our country especially because most companies are small and in these firms, most of the time, there is no internal culture of permanently adapting to what is happening in the market. It is the large companies that implement the measures that the rest then follow."
At the same time, Tejada –who is also a mother and who analyses the market from this perspective- believes that "there should be alternating leave between fathers and mothers, but I do not think that the culture in our country is mature enough at the moment," she says. In her opinion, companies still need to prepare themselves, as "many are not used to men taking time off and find it
Volia compartir amb vosaltres que el meu marit i jo hem estat pares, i és per això que no presentaré el #TNTV3 durant unes setmanes (1/3)
— Toni Cruanyes (@Toni_Cruanyes) April 7, 2015
He is not the only Catalan employee who has taken paternity leave this year. Between January and June 2015 the Social Security department processed 22,306 cases of parental leave in Catalonia, a 2.65% rise over the previous year. It is the autonomous community for which the Spanish State has managed the most leaves of absence, followed by Madrid and Andalusia.
Of the 24,553 cases of parental leave processed in Catalonia, a total of 24,119 were for mothers and only 434 were granted to the father. In other words, out of the 10 weeks that the law grants to mothers –after the six weeks of obligatory leave- in only 434 cases was leave granted to men so that they could extend a period of time off work that many consider to be too short and unfair.
It is a situation that concerns the association, Homes per la Igualtat de Gènere (AHIGE) Catalunya. Its president and coordinator, Paco Abril, points out that "the period of maternity leave is very short. We want men to get 16 weeks because when maternity leave ends, the children have to be looked after by grandparents, or go to the nursery, or one of the parents is forced to stay at home." In the sociologist's opinion, "if parents could share leave between them, it would be fantastic for the couple, society, demographics and even the economy."
According to Abril, "there are approximately 80% of men who take a fortnight's leave, with the 20% who do not do so being people in positions of responsibility, directors or middle management." It is with these people who Abril believes "work needs to be done to make them understand that providing a good example consists in taking this leave."
The director's example
Albert Riera, director of communications at La Fageda, is one of those fathers who, despite the current law, preferred to modify his paternity leave in order to share the care of his newborn with his wife. Father of a large family, in his case he accumulated 20 days that he chose to turn into 40 part-time days. "I did it like that because in small companies like mine, in which you have to give your all just to keep advancing, it is hard to take leave of absence, but it also has something to do with the company culture," he says. It was not for nothing that La Fageda was awarded the 2014 "Family" prize –given by the Grup d'Entitats Catalans (GEC) de la Família- for its social and family policies in balancing the family and working lives of its employees, and Riera confirms that flexibility is a characteristic of the organisation.
It is clear that the role of fathers is changing in Europe and workers are increasingly keen to spend time with their families. This is one of Abril's conclusion, who, as a professor at the Universitat de Girona, is the author (jointly with Alfons Romero) of the study "Measures for incorporating men into family reconciliation policy" (2008) which analyses equality policy in different countries, including the Spanish State. The study relates the results of interviews with 55 employees and directors of public and private companies in Germany, Slovenia, Iceland, Norway and Spain. The report shows, apart from the differences between countries, those that exist between different positions in the company.
"I remember interviews with directors who do not take paternity leave because they think it gives a bad image, or in meetings, which finish very late, they find it very difficult to say that they would like to finish earlier in case it is taken badly." Riera agrees that it is "complicated" for directors to manage both priorities, which makes the attitude of the company a key factor. At La Fageda, there are five female directors, two of whom are mothers, two who aren't and fifth who soon will be. "She does her hours and leaves on time, but here we have a lot of respect for that. The company is very flexible," says Riera.
Abril's study analyses the family reconciliation policies of the education department of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the MRW company, and after studying both organisations, concludes that men complain of a lack of information and even a "certain confusion" about the family reconciliation measures at their disposal.
On the other hand, in the Catalan public sphere this 'flexibility' has been established since 2005 with the approval of civil servants who are fathers being allowed leave of four weeks. Since then, the new equality law applying to women and men that was passed in July 2015 says that companies that want to achieve excellence should provide individual and non-transferable paternity leave of four consecutive weeks starting at the end of the period of maternity leave established by law. Yet, the extension of paternity leave from a fortnight to a month, despite the approval of equality legislation in 2007 meant to have come into effect in 2011, continues to be frozen by the Spanish government.
'Equal' leave
In the opinion of Ángeles Tejada, president of the Labour Relations and Human Resources commission at the business association Foment del Treball, there is still much work to do in this area. "The ideal thing would be to have equal parental leave, so that taking a break from the company does not fall only to the woman, but I think that right now there would still be plenty of problems with its acceptance by businesses and people in general because women tend to think we have to be superwomen. We think that our partners cannot do what we do," she reflects.
Tejada, who is also the managing director of Randstad's Public Affairs department, insists that there are many companies that still do not take paternity leave into consideration. "It happens in our country especially because most companies are small and in these firms, most of the time, there is no internal culture of permanently adapting to what is happening in the market. It is the large companies that implement the measures that the rest then follow."
At the same time, Tejada –who is also a mother and who analyses the market from this perspective- believes that "there should be alternating leave between fathers and mothers, but I do not think that the culture in our country is mature enough at the moment," she says. In her opinion, companies still need to prepare themselves, as "many are not used to men taking time off and find it
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