Hundreds of fathers are protesting across the UK to demand better paternity pay.
The Push for Paternity Leave marches began in London, Nottingham, Manchester and Leeds around midday Saturday, with fathers seen pushing prams through city centres.
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Those marching are calling for six weeks of paternity leave paid at 90% of salary for working fathers and kinship carers, and 12 weeks of maternity pay at 90% of salary for all working mothers.
They are also calling for a requirement for employers to publish their parental leave policies.
Dads in the UK currently get two weeks of paid parental leave Credit: ITV News
At present, new dads can only take up to two weeks’ paid leave in the UK.
“It causes lots of problems for dads,” Errol Murray, founder of parenting organisation Leeds Dads, told ITV News.
“If there’s a traumatic birth, the dad might not be able to be available to support the mum, the mum might feel lost, alone, unsupported.
“It creates rifts between parents before the baby is even a month old. So it’s really important that families get the best start in having a family life.”
The marches took place in London, Manchester, Nottingham and Leeds Credit: ITV News
Protesters in London could be seen carrying signs that said “equality starts at home”, “dads are caregivers too”, and “fund fatherhood”.
They chanted “we believe, equal leave” and “six weeks pay, no delay” while stopping for photos in Trafalgar Square.
“I thought I was a really great hands on, involved dad, but my wife disagreed, and we used to have a lot of arguments,” Alex Trippier, host of podcast Be a Happier Parent, told ITV News at the protest in London.
“I started reading books about motherhood and it really made me appreciate how different the expectations are that we put on mums, to the ones we put on dads.
“That really starts early with this kind of messaging about what is a mums job – which is essentially everything – and what is a dad’s job, which is to go to work and make more money, which then mum’s have to go and do too.
“We have this complete structural imbalance and it is killing relationships and causing massive suffering for couples. It’s this period where you should be on the same team, and people just aren’t.”
The lack of parental leave can cause a rift between parents within the first month of a child’s life, Errol Murray said Credit: ITV News
Recent research by Parenting Out Loud and YouGov found that fathers are more than twice as likely as mothers to say they share parenting equally, with 49% of dads describing their household as equal, compared with 21% of mums.
The survey of 2,000 parents highlights a significant imbalance in childcare, with mothers taking on most responsibilities.
It found 53% of mothers said their careers had been negatively affected after having children, compared with 13% of fathers, with nearly one in eight mothers leaving paid work altogether.
From April this year, new laws came into effect that granted unpaid parental leave from the first day in a new job, which the government says will give an additional 1.5 million parents increased flexibility to share childcare responsibilities.
Last year, the chair of the Women and Equalities Committee said the UK has one of the “worst statutory leave offers for fathers and other parents in the developed world”.
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