British fathers are being urged to join the world’s first “Dad strike” in London to protest the country’s statutory paternity leave.
Parents are planning to gather with their babies in Whitehall next month in an effort to force the Government to improve the current offer for dads.
The strike outside the Department for Business and Trade on June 11 is being hailed as a “revolutionary” moment in the gender equality movement.
Campaigners argue that not allowing dads ample time with their newborns places an undue burden on women.
The Dad Shift, which is organising the protest, have described the paternity offer as the least generous in Europe.
The lobby group has accused ministers of “betraying” new dads after it emerged a promised right to paternity leave would not include the right to statutory pay under Labour’s flagship employment rights bill.
Fathers are currently entitled to up to a fortnight of statutory paternity leave, which can be taken as one continuous two-week block or as two separate one-week blocks.
But those eligible receive less than half the minimum wage, with self-employed co-parents not qualifying for state support.
Meanwhile, mothers on maternity leave receive 90 per cent of their average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then £187.18 for 33 weeks.
Fathers are being forced to make an impossible choice
Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of fathers say their biggest regret from their child’s first year of life is that they did not get to spend enough time with them, polling conducted by The Dad Shift revealed.
Their research also showed that the average father spends 57 per cent fewer waking hours with their baby in the first year of life.
George Gabriel, co-founder of the Dad Shift, told The Guardian: “The UK’s rubbish paternity leave system means from the day our kids arrive most fathers are forced to make an impossible choice – between going out to work and provide for our families, and providing them with the one thing that matters most, our presence.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about fatherhood lately and it was great to see (Prime Minister) Sir Keir Starmer saying, ‘I don’t want to be one of those blokes who says, I wish I’d spent more time with my kids.’
“If you want to spend more time with your kids, spend more time with your kids and do it now. Don’t talk about it.
“But for too many dads that’s just not possible.”
