The Awakening Foundation, the Birth Reform Alliance and lawmakers are pressing the government to allow expectant fathers to have five days of paid leave before their child is born to accompany their spouse to medical checkups.
The Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法), which grants pregnant women five days of paid leave for medical checkups, should be amended, the groups and lawmakers said on Friday.
Men often do not consider what fatherhood entails until after their child is born, and therefore have difficulty catching up with the bond formed between mother and baby, foundation general secretary Chou Yu-hsuan (周于萱) said.
Photo: CNA
There is also insufficient social support for expectant fathers, as the prenatal period is focused on mothers-to-be, she said.
The discrepancy in preparedness between husbands and wives often results in unequal distribution of the parenting workload after birth, and can lead to conflicts between the parents, she said.
Article 15 of the act grants women paid leave for checkups, but nothing for their spouses who accompany them, foundation director of policy Chyn Yu-rung (覃玉蓉) said.
Men wanting to accompany their spouses to prenatal checkups often need to use vacation time or take unpaid leave, she said.
Alliance managing director Hsu Shu-hui (徐書慧) said fathers in France and Portugal can take three days of paid leave to accompany their spouses on prenatal checkups, while those in Sweden can apply for a 10-day leave to accompany spouses to child-rearing classes or prenatal checkups.
Taiwan should look to Sweden as a positive example, she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that a survey last year found that 92.62 percent of workers, 97.78 percent of employers and 81.25 percent of unions were in favor of paid leave for fathers to accompany spouses on checkups.
He has drafted a proposal for an amendment, which would also increase maternal leave to 14 weeks and paternal leave during the childbirth period from five to seven days, Chiang said.
He is collecting signatures for the amendment, he said.
The Ministry of Labor said that paid leave for fathers to accompany spouses on checkups was not an international norm, citing Japan, South Korea and the US as examples.
Fathers can already take leave to be with their spouse during childbirth, and can take unpaid leave for childcare, the ministry said.
Fathers could use their vacation time or apply for family care leave to accompany their spouses on checkups, it added.
Additional reporting by Lee Ya-wen
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