Maneka 'missed the point' with paternal-leave comment: Expert

Soon after the Rajya Sabha passed the Maternity Benefit Amendment Bill, which proposes increasing the duration of maternity leave for a working woman from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi waded into a controversy.In an interview with the Indian Express, Gandhi downplayed the need for increasing paternity leaves duration for new fathers, saying "it would just be a holiday for him".Current regulations allow government employees to go on a 15-day paternity leave while there is no law regarding on the subject for the private sector.Experts, however, believe the minister may have missed a trick when she made the comment."It was a controversial comment for sure," Sairee Chahal, Founder and CEO of Sheroes.in, a destination for women professionals, "though it may have been somewhat reflective of today's situation where woman still majorly anchor family duties and own a large part of the care-giving economy."Chahal, however, told CNBC-TV18 that policymakers should be cautious when making statements. "Shared parenting is the way forward [and must be encouraged]. The minister missed the point there.""The comment was made on anecdotal data and I can cite several instances on the contrary [where fathers have taken time out to care for newborns]," Jessie Paul, Former CMO at Wipro and Founder and CEO at Paul Writer, said.She suggested that the government should bring more equanimity in parental leave policy to help either parents exercise their duties properly.Some experts have even questioned the government's decision to increase the maternity leave benefit and say that in the absence of any financial support from the government and shifting the onus of sanctioning paid leaves to employers, it may actually discourage some employers to hire women of child-bearing age."It should become such that a prospective employer sees a liability walking through the door when he sees a young woman," Paul said. "If the maternal and paternal leaves are similar for both parents, that discrimination will not be there."But industry veteran TV Mohandas Pai was more charitable in his assessment of Gandhi's comments, and said her views were "reflective of an earlier generation" when fathers were seen as not taking on enough parenting duties after birth of their child and must be taken in stride. He also lauded that the government's decision to increase the maternity leave duration, saying it would help women focus on both their careers and family duties and encourage them to continue to stay in the workforce after becoming parents."In China, 85 percent women participate in the workforce while the number if only 24 percent in India. This could perhaps explain why India has grown somewhat slower than China over the past few decades."