Longer paternity leave

A step towards equality between men and women in France

Longer paternity leave: a step towards equality between men and women in France

Camille Morisson, Team Manager, Kantar Public - France

Gender inequalities are a reality in every country in the world, and France is unfortunately no exception, despite President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge in 2017 to make women's rights "the Great Cause” of his five-year term. Although some progress has been made, there is still a long way to go to achieve equality between women and men in French society.

In France, women are faced with a number of injustices when it comes to gender inequality, starting in the home:

In 2016, 80% of women in France reported spending at least one hour a day cooking or cleaning compared to only 36% of men.¹ This survey by the European Institute for Gender Equality has been conducted since 2003, and shows little change over this 13-year period.²

In 2013, women were spending 1 hour and 33 minutes a day caring for their children, while men were spending 44 minutes.
If we exclude leisure activities (social and recreational activities with the child) from this data collected by DREES (Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics Institute), this figure fell to just 33 minutes a day for men, compared to 1 hour 20 minutes for women.³

These gender inequalities apply to all areas of society, and are more pronounced in the workplace even though women hold more higher education degrees than men.⁴

Fewer than one in three businesses in France are run by women. This number drops to only one in five for companies employing more than 50 people.⁵

Women earn 16,8% less than men in 2017 , when looking at full-time equivalent wages, and the pay gap between women and men widens further as we move up the salary scale.⁶

According to DREES, with regards the gender pension gap, the pension payments received by women in 2017 were on average 29% lower than those of their male counterparts.⁷

The imperative of assessing and monitoring the situation of women’s rights in France
Against this backdrop and to mark International Women's Day on 8 March, Kantar Public partnered with La Fondation des Femmes to conduct an annual study designed to assess the situation of women in France and their rights.^{8 9} This barometer has so far been conducted for two consecutive years, and we share some key findings from our 2020 study.Our survey highlighted a number of issues particularly prominent in the workplace. For example, only 1 in 3 people in France (and more men than women) consider that equality between men and women has reached a satisfactory level in the workplace – a result similar to the previous year’s.Narrowing down to specific areas of inequality, the position of women is judged as being less favorable than that of men by about 7 out of 10 French people when it comes to salary, the risk of harassment, income on retirement, the impact on careers when having children, access to positions of responsibility, and career development (promotions, pay rises).This finding is even more pronounced among women (82% of women regarding salary): especially childless women regarding the risk of harassment (82%), and women with several children in terms of retirement income (82%) and career development opportunities (77%).

A longer paternity leave: one of the much-needed solutions to promote gender equality
To overcome these gender inequalities in family life as well as working life, one of the solutions often put forward is the introduction of a longer paternity leave (even equal to maternity leave). The argument presented is that in addition to providing fathers with time to look after their children and bond with them from the very first moment, a longer paternity leave would alleviate the burden currently experienced by women after childbirth, and establish a fairer division of household chores.A longer paternity leave would also limit the negative impact on women’s careers – thus transforming a ‘women's problem’ into a ‘parents' problem’. For instance, companies would no longer have a reason to favour the recruitment of a man over a woman for fear that the woman might have a child and be absent for a long period: a man might also request his full paternity leave.

According to our survey, a majority of French people (women as well as men) favour the introduction of a longer paternity leave which currently stands at 2 weeks: 58% of French people would be in favour of a mandatory paternity leave of 6 weeks after birth (which would still be less than the current 10-week maternity leave in France).The youngest generation is the most supportive of this change, with 71% of people age under 35 being in favour of a longer mandatory paternity leave, and almost 4 out of 10 being ‘very favourable' to it.

Attitudes towards paternity leave in France are changing: Kantar research shows that a majority of people are now asking for more equality between women and men.

Anne-Céclie Mailfert, President - Fondation des Femmes

Moreover, 4 out of 10 men report to have already taken additional leave to prolong their paternity leave, which suggests a strong case for a mandatory extension of its duration.

But under what conditions can this longer paternity leave have a tangible, positive impact on equality between women and men? Especially in a context where:¹⁰

4 out of 10 men who are entitled to paternity leave do not take it (or at least not all of it)

4 out of 10 men think that if some do not take their paternity leave, it is because they feel it could be detrimental to their careers

3 out of 10 men think that taking paternity leave would be frowned upon, and might result in a loss of income

2 out of 10 men say that one of the factors preventing men from exercising their rights to paternity leave is a lack of awareness of their entitlement, while 2 out of 10 believe that this can be attributed to the absence of a state mandate on this leave

36% of women aged 35+ think that if men don't take their paternity leave, it is because don't really want to.

Why parental leave policies must be anchored in moral and social norms to drive positive change in the workplace and across society
The question around the compulsory nature of paternity leave needs to be considered alongside a more profound change in mentalities. Drawing on our Behaviour Change Model, we know that combining the rule (in the legal sense) with the social norm (in the more anthropological sense) is critical to driving this change. Indeed, the notion of ‘obligation’ (making paternity leave mandatory) would be an important factor in turning longer paternity leave into a more established social norm – both for the men concerned and for their employers.

The question around the compulsory nature of paternity leave needs to be considered alongside a more profound change in mentalities.

This approach has been applied already to maternity leave, where out of the 16 week-entitlement, 8 weeks are compulsory (6 of which must be taken after the birth), in order to protect women from potential pressure from their line managers, or from reluctant employers.In the same way, making paternity leave mandatory would protect fathers, firstly by relieving them of having to make a choice potentially unpopular with their employer, and secondly from stigma in front of their colleagues. As mentioned earlier, the perception that their decision would be frowned upon, is the second biggest barrier to men taking paternity leave (cited by 34% of men).

In September 2020, the French government announced the extension of paternity leave, doubling it (from 14 days after birth to 28 days) from July 2021, with 7 mandatory days. While this 28-day period – and in particular the mandatory 7-day period – may seem insufficient in view of the challenges described here, it nevertheless allows France to catch up with more advanced European countries when it comes to workplace equality between men and women.With this change, France will still be behind countries in the European Union including Norway (105 days for the second parent), Sweden (480 days to be shared between the two parents, including 60 days exclusively for the father) and Spain (56 days for the moment, with the plan to increase to 16 weeks in 2021); but ahead of countries such as Denmark, Belgium and Italy.Will this improvement make it possible to anchor paternity leave in moral and social norms? For that to happen, this extension to paternity leave needs to be endorsed not only by the French government but also by employers. Time will tell whether companies see this as a challenge or an opportunity to go even further and encourage fathers to extend their mandatory leave and exercise their paternity rights in full. The latter will become more likely, if more men as well as women come to favour this change.

References

Observatoire des inégalités
European Institute for Gender Equality
DREES: Direction de la Recherche, des Études, de l'Evaluation et des Statistiques
Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation
INSEE (National Statistical and Economics Studies Institute)
INSEE (National Statistical and Economics Studies Institute)
DREES
Fondation des Femmes / Women’s Foundation: created in March 2016, the aim of this foundation is to raise funds from the general public and businesses for redistribution to associations specializing in women's rights and the fight against violence against women.
Barometer « Priorité Femmes »
As above