WORKING FOR YOU Proud to promote paternity leave

Mr MacGregor is pictured during his passionate address at the SNP conference in Aberdeen

Earlier this month I was proud to address the SNP conference in Aberdeen regarding doubling paternity leave from two to four weeks.

This resolution was passed overwhelmingly by the conference and is now SNP policy.

At present, legislation dictates that fathers can only take two consecutive weeks’ leave. I believe this must change.

Ola Sars, a Swedish CEO, noted that: “The system in the UK is dysfunctional, unfair and antiquated, both in terms of attitude and how parental leave works in practice.”

For me this campaign and policy is all about equality. Extending paternity leave benefits the child, the mother, and the father.

Scandinavian nations, as well as other countries, have provided extended paternity leave for decades now, and they therefore provide a wealth of empirical data to support my views.

For the child, increased paternity leave yields positive social, emotional, and academic results.

Children with fathers who had longer spells of paternity leave were found to be more social among their peers, have less behavioural problems and have higher cognitive test scores.

For the mother, the benefits are significant also. The antiquated view that, post-birth, the mother would do the housework and rearing while the father supported the family financially is no longer relevant.

Increased paternity leave would not only allow the father to spend more time with his children, but also allow the mother to return to the workforce quicker – if that’s what the family desired.

It must also be noted that increased paternity leave gives women more time to recuperate after the physically demanding event that is a pregnancy.

Other studies have linked increased paternity leave to lower levels of post-natal depression for mothers.

For the father, the ability to spend more time with their children is a rewarding experience.

As well as benefits for the individual, the chance for fathers to spend longer periods at home will be useful for challenging preconceived gender roles in our society.

The benefits for the family are evident, but there are also benefits for the nation as a whole.

Countries that have higher paternity leave report higher levels of gender equality, more even splitting of housework, and higher GDPs, indicating potential economic advantages of increasing leave.

In the face of this plethora of evidence, I have contacted all chief executives of local authorities and health boards, urging them to set a gold standard and increase their staff parental leave to four weeks.

And I am delighted that, last week, North Lanarkshire Council voted to support the SNP proposal for an increase in paternal leave.

The recent support of our local council has shown that there is cross-party backing for the increase and I hope that these steps are the first in Scotland joining areas such as Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Slovenia in allowing fathers to spend more time with their newborn children.

The system in the UK is dysfunctional, unfair and antiquated, both in terms of attitude and how parental leave works

Strong message