SA Fathers to Receive Paternity Leave Rights

Maternity leave as a concept is well-established in most developing and developed countries around the world, but the notion of paternity leave outside of specific nations is still a somewhat foreign concept.

South Africa took strides to get closer to the conventional setup observed in those countries this past week with the ACDP’s proposed Labour Law Amendments Bill, which sought to provide paid paternity leave for South African dads. The new provision will entitle dads to ten days of paid paternity leave, to be gathered from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

The ACDP deserves full credit for seeing this implementation through as significant research supports the idea that a more tightly knit nuclear family has massive benefits for kids and their development.

South African has historically been a country where it is an accepted convention that father’s as breadwinners may be absent from the household, but this bill and any potential future amendments could begin to change that. ACDP party leader Kenneth Meshoe mentions this salient fact, and says he hopes this will increase how much South African fathers can be “hands-on” in the day-to-day upbringing of their kids.

Any prospective dads should be pleased by this development, but it should also be celebrated by South Africans as a society since the wellbeing of entire families will be enhanced with this new legislation.

What do you think of the new paternity leave rights for men? Let us know by tweeting @MenStuffZA and commenting below.