Carol Ofori chats maternity and paternity leave
You would think that in this day and age where fathers take on shared responsibility at home and even become stay-at-home dads, that the amount of paternity leave offered to them would be more.
What value would you put on your parents? Ridiculous question, right? They're invaluable!
So then ask yourself this question: how do we place a value on the number of days given to new parents? It's a different time to the days where maternity leave was prioritised over paternity leave, but even more disconcerting than that is the fact that some moms don't even get paid maternity leave. Many industries work on the 'no work, no pay' mindset, and as much as we understand that the nature of the biz is a determining factor, what about the life-changing act of bringing a child into this world?!
Carol Ofori shares her thoughts by saying: "I had to go through it twice with my hubby and it's very sad because a lot of dads wanna be hands-on dads. They don't want to miss out on nappy changes (believe it or not) and seeing baby grow."
Heart-wrenching when you see the other side of it all, where parents just have to toughen up and do what they gotta do. Many industries aren't kind to both moms and dads and that makes it somewhat more challenging. It's a fight between being home with your child and enjoying all the 'firsts' or being away and supporting your family.
Carol Ofori went further on to say: "It would be lovely for all industries that women work in to be treated with a minimum of three months and for the dad to get the same. I think that's fair as times are changing."
In South Africa, the law states that moms get four months and dads get ten days - what a whopping difference in time!
Did you get time off when your little one was born? Share your thoughts with us.