Better parental care results in balanced child development

He was not beside her.

Dipti said, “During the birth of Aditi, I had some pregnancy-related complications and was admitted to a city hospital. But I had faced a lot of trouble due to my husband’s absence. He used to work at a garment factory and he was unable to come to me as there was a shipment was pending the next day.”

“But I needed him badly.”

Dipti’s mother was beside her but she could not decide anything during emergencies.

She says husbands should get paternity leave like working mothers.

Humayun Kabir, who works at a private company, said he was not able to give adequate time during his kid’s birth. He has suffered a lot.

“My son Nirob has been sick since his birth and my wife was not well. But I could manage only three days of leave as casual leave but it was not sufficient. I could not stand by my wife and the newborn when they needed me badly.”

He said: “The government should take measures for paternal leave like maternal leave.”

As a newborn child is always a matter of excitement for both father and mother, many parents feel they need to stay together to adjust to the new situation after the birth of their kids. They say the first time experience of a child is always full of enthusiasm and pleasure in the life of every parents, but they often fail to get the taste because they stay apart as there is no official policy for paternal leave in Bangladesh.

Maternity leave is the time when a mother needs to give birth to her child. It is also needed for the adoption of a child at the preliminary stage. Paternity leave is to help their wives in the care of the newborn.

The duration and benefits a mother enjoys during the maternity leave vary from country to country and from organisation to organization. Due to biological reasons maternity leave is a must for mothers and it is universally granted as well. But the importance of paternity leave is not getting that much concentration in Bangladesh.

The concept of paternity leave is not very clear in developing countries like Bangladesh. Paternity leave is a time a father takes off from work at the birth or adoption of a child. The purpose of this type of leave is to allow fathers to stay close to his kid after its birth. This leave enables father to look after his child and the child’s mother thus creating a new bonding.

There are many women and men like Dipti who do not get their husbands with them at the time of delivery. But every woman wants to have her husband at that important and complicated time. At the same time there are many working men like Humayun who are not getting adequate leave to take care of their wives and children.

Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, the vice chancellor of the University of Dhaka, says “Paternity leave was not necessary in the past as the family structure was combined and women used to stay home. But now the scenario has changed as the family structure has become smaller and women are working outside.”

A working mother is getting maternity leave but it is so tough for a working woman to take care of her baby properly without her husband’s cooperation.

Prof Siddique said there is no law in Bangladesh yet for men to get paternity leave.

“It is the need of time. At the same time I feel that if I would have got paternity leave during my daughter’s birth, I could have taken good care of my baby and wife.”

“It was very important for me to spend more time with them at that time.”

He also says: “Although we talk about equal rights, women are treated differently in every aspect. In our society, bringing up children is considered to be the task of women. The role of a mother in raising children is undeniable.”

“But along with a mother, you can’t ignore the father’s role. To facilitate a man to be with his wife at the time of need and to play a positive role in the early days of a child, a law allowing paternity leave is necessary,” he added.

Shirin Akhter, president of Karmojibi Nari, says paternity leave has become a necessity in the society, as families with many members are getting disintegrated.

She said the situation has changed as fathers and mothers work outside nowadays.

“Every child has the right to have parents together during early days of their life,” she said.

Focusing on the need for awareness building, she says the government and NGOs can take up advocacy campaigns to change the people’s traditional mindset for the new reality.

She, however, says proper provisions should be incorporated so that an intended law on paternity leave cannot be misused. A father should get paternal leave for15 days.

The Ministry of Establishment has recently proposed 15 days of leave for fathers to take care of the newborn.

As per the proposal, fathers will have the opportunity to take off from work for 15 days before or after childbirth.

It will remain valid for the first two children.

Establishment ministry’s additional secretary Mohammad Sadiq says: “We have sent a letter recently to the Women and Children Affairs Ministry for pursuing the proposal that has been derived from a workshop of female government officials.”

He says the proposal has been prepared in line with examples of several other countries.

Establishment ministry officials say the proposal is aimed at allowing men to take care of their wives and babies while it has suggested introduction of 15 days of “optional” leave during the birth of each of their first two children.

Officials say there is no legal obligation for the employer to grant any employee paternity leave in India but several organizations started granting their employees paternity leave lately, more as a goodwill gesture.

Several human rights organizations have praised the initiative, which, if approved, will set a precedent in the history of a Muslim-majority country like Bangladesh.

Nepal introduced paternity leave for all male government employees in September 2004.

The fathers in Britain could take up to six months off on paternity leave while their baby’s mother returns to work. There is no provision for paternity leave in Pakistan yet.

In Bangladesh women are entitled to four months of maternity leave. The government has taken initiative to increase it to six months in the proposed Women Development Policy. The inclusion of a compulsory paternity leave will enable fathers to contribute more in bringing up their children.

A compulsory paternal leave may open the gateway to raise awareness among fathers regarding their participation and involvement in child’s care. It may ease the mother’s extreme toil after the child’s birth. It will also encourage growing a sharing and sacrificing tendency among husbands for wives.

NewsNetwork