Bill expanding paternity leave to 25 days with full pay
The
Philippines has been lauded by the world for its efforts in promoting gender
equality. Various laws have been passed throughout the years that seek to
promote the welfare and rights of the women and eliminate any form of
discrimination against them.
Parañaque
District Representative Eric L. Olivarez has filed House Bill No. 8230 or the “Twenty-Five (25)-Day Expanded Paternity
Leave Act of 2020,” which complements and reaffirms the basic gender
equality principles.
Just
recently, the Expanded Maternity Leave Act has been passed granting women a
total of one hundred five (105) days of paid maternity leave. This indeed a
great gender equality milestone as it recognizes the multiple roles and burdens
experienced by women who need to work and earn a living while taking care of
her children and the household in general.
However,
while this is truly deserving of a celebration, it might also slowly fame up a
silent form of discrimination against female workers whereby employers might be
more inclined to hire a man over a woman even though the latter might be more
qualified, in order to evade the potential responsibility of paying up higher
maternity leave benefits.
Silent
discrimination will be very hard to curb and reprimand precisely because its
existence is difficult, if not totally impossible, to prove in court.
Thus,
it is better to proactively seal off the possibility of its occurrence rather
than deal with it belatedly when the damage has been done.
Rep
Olivarez said that this bill seeks to address this potential anomaly by
highlighting and promoting the rights and duties of men as father or parents,
and by proactively normalizing the concepts of shared parenting in our society.
“The contribution of fathers
in attending to and caring for a new born child is undeniably important
significant yet it is not usually celebrated or even discussed. The assumption
by men of an active, hands-on, and central parenting role will greatly benefit
not just their female partners, but also the newborn child and the family as a
whole,” Rep Olivarez added.
When
women and men equally share the time and labor of raising children, women are
given the opportunity to spend equal time and labor in building a career and
financial independence.
It
also eliminates the possibility of the above-discussed silent discrimination
against women in the hiring phase of a job opportunity. Most importantly
though, increasing the paternity leave benefits will pave the way for a
cultural transformation where men and women share both domestic and economic
burdens equitably.
Moreover,
various researchers have shown that when fathers are more engaged with their
children, their children have better developmental outcomes. This includes
having fewer behavioral problems and having well-improved cognitive and mental
health conditions.