The Dad Shift

Is this the first ever Dad Jokes marathon in the Houses of Parliament? Last week, a bunch of MPs stood up in the House of Commons to read out the winners of our "UK's Best Dad Jokes" contest. There were groans galore, but the point was to highlight a dad joke that's not funny - the UK's paternity leave. It's two weeks, paid at less than half the minimum wage, or nothing if you're self employed. That makes it the worst in Europe. Two weeks isn't enough for anyone, but the pay is so low that loads of people can't afford even that tiny amount. In fact, we've just done research showing that a full 90% of paternity leave is taken by the top 50% of earners. Time with our kids shouldn't be some luxury only for those who can afford it - it should be a basic right for everyone. ✍️ Help convince the Government to give us longer, better paid paternity leave - sign the petition here: https://lnkd.in/e_YYC4Zp ✍️ P.S. Big thanks to all the MPs who took part in this, and to everyone who submitted these jokes to the competition. Congrats to Abi Weaver for the winning joke! (the one about the handyman!)

There is one theme that keeps coming up when I'm talking to experts about parenthood. Whether it’s about sharing the mental load, improving maternal and paternal post-partum mental health, reducing maternal gatekeeping, or maintaining a loving partnership. Paternity leave. These two simple words come up in almost every single conversation on Equal-ish. And we’re talking to the academics and specialists in all areas of relationships and parenthood. It's not planned, we're not forcing one direction, it's because the research resoundingly supports the importance for fatherhood presence during early parenthood. I appreciate that this is a conversation we’re having a lot of at the moment in the UK, thanks to all the incredible active campaigns and government lobbying. But it’s also not a fait a complis. Unless we keep sharing our stories about why paternity leave is so important, and calling for change from government and our organisations, nothing is going to happen. So naturally, to support #Movember and #InternationalMensDay, Kate Mangino and I had to invite George Gabriel, co-founder of The Dad Shift onto Equal-ish to talk about why we need to all keep supporting the campaign for better paternity leave. If you don’t have time to listen, here are some standout facts for you: 🫂 90% of dads say they want to be more actively involved with their kids than previous generations. 💰 The UK’s 13–14% gender pay gap is largely driven by the motherhood penalty — women taking on most of the care labour. 🧠 61% of father’s experience poor mental health in early fatherhood 💔 Every week, two or three babies in the UK lose their dads to suicide within the first thousand days of life Got time to listen? 🔗 https://linktr.ee/equalish What's your paternity leave story?

"My daughter was the first baby I'd ever held. I went home with my wife and child and that was the first time I was caring for a baby. That's insane, right?" There's a narrative that dads getting more involved in childcare is an inversion of the natural order: mums do babies, dads do work, and thus it ever was. But this point our co-founder George Gabriel makes is spot on: in fact, the reality is that men have been de-socialised from caring for children, particularly babies, to an extent that's completely unnatural both in our history and our evolution as a species (on this point - Anna Machin's work on how involved fatherhood evolved to ensure our survival is 100% worth checking out). Big thanks to Rachel Childs and Kate Mangino for having us on their excellent new Equal-ish podcast

As anyone who's experienced it will know, pregnancy loss at any stage can have a profound impact on you and those around you. That is why the upcoming change in the law to extend the right to bereavement leave to people who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks is so important. But it's not yet set in stone exactly how it will work in practice, so Department for Business and Trade is asking people to share their thoughts. You can take part here: https://lnkd.in/eSe2DFiw Same goes for another vital change coming up, which is to strengthen the protection from dismissal for new and expecting mothers. This could help prevent the huge discrimination new mothers face - 74,000 a year lose their jobs according to Pregnant Then Screwed. You can have you say on how the new law should work practically here: https://lnkd.in/efrdb5pJ

This matters. These aren't the words of a campaigner. This isn't a think tank or a journalist. This is a businessman - the CEO of the biggest private employer in the UK, no less - publicly arguing that good parental will help grow the economy. And when the Government's number one preoccupation is growth, this lands. Just read this paragraph from his blog: "Our view is that reforms are long overdue. Paternity pay in the UK is the lowest in Europe and paternity leave is out of step with how most couples want to share their parenting responsibilities. This old-fashioned view of the working world not only serves to penalise mothers but deny new fathers an equal opportunity to take an active role in the early days of childcare." It's pretty unequivocal, because he recognises a simple truth: better paternity leave is good for business. No one benefits when dads return to work just days after the birth exhausted, anxious about their partner and baby, and at risk of the mental health spiral we see affecting so many new dads who don't get enough paternity leave. Well done, Tesco 👏

Our parental leave system doesn't work for anyone, and nowhere is that more true than for single parents. It's hard enough to pay the bills with maternity and paternity pay as a couple, but as a single parent, with no other salary to support you, it's even harder. No wonder 80% of single parents say maternity pay isn't enough to live on. And it's even worse for dads who become solo parents after the birth (when their child is removed from the mother for safeguarding reasons, for example). They are still only entitled to two weeks paternity leave and pay. What on earth are you expected to do with your newborn after that time's up? There are simple steps the Government can take to support single parents better. Other countries allow a solo parent to transfer paternity leave to themselves or a friend or relative, which we should do (and make paternity leave longer and better paid so there's something meaningful to transfer!). And of course, we need to increase statutory maternity and paternity pay for everyone, single parents included. Thanks to Ruth and Single Parent Rights for this brilliant research and for their tireless work fighting for solo parents.

"In this country, we think people who have a baby should live on less than half the minimum wage." Statutory maternity and paternity pay works out at about £4.99 an hour on full time hours. The minimum wage - which is the minimum amount it's meant to be possible to live off - is £12.21. Which is why last night, dozens of MPs stood up in Parliament to speak in favour of raising parental pay to the minimum wage, after over 100k people signed a Parliamentary petition started by Grace Carter 🦋 It's not the kind of debate that can become law, but the Government will sit up and take notice of this. Well done everyone involved, and thanks to Stella Creasey, Mark Sewards MP, Sarah Russell, Daniel Francis, Amanda Martin MP, Alex McIntyre MP for their speeches in the clip below, and to every MP who spoke up at the debate 💪

MPs are about to debate increasing maternity and paternity pay in Parliament. The debate was triggered by 100,000 people signing a petition, thanks to the brilliant work of Grace Carter 🦋. Some background: statutory maternity and paternity pay is currently £187.18 a week. That's less than half the National Living Wage (i.e. the minumum amount you can supposedly live off). The debate is to increase the pay to this level. Seems reasonable, right? It's not the kind of debate that can automatically become law, but if enough MPs show up and support improving parental pay, it will generate headlines that put pressure on the Government to act. The debate is on Monday 27th October. Can you email your MP now and ask them to attend and speak in favour of better parental pay? It's quick and easy to do using our tool: https://lnkd.in/eX2548_2

Let's talk about what the UK's paternity leave does to mums. It's the worst in Europe: two weeks at less than half the minimum wage, or nothing if you’re self employed. Two weeks is nowhere near enough, particularly if you’ve had a C-section, which more than 40% of mums now do. Doctors advise 6 weeks for (physical) recovery from a C-section - but with dads and non-birthing partners having to return to work after just two weeks (and in many cases less than that) mums are left to manage alone. They're often not even able to lift their baby properly. We need everyone to know all the ways UK paternity leave is screwing over mums. So today, @pregnant_then_screwed and @dadshiftuk supporters will plaster social media with pictures of this sticker above C-section scars and other symbols of how the UK's rubbish paternity leave screwed *them* over. Plus, we've got a surprise coming to a couple of lucky billboards...stay tuned! 📣 Help win better pat leave now. If you're new to campaign, sign the petition for better paternity leave: https://lnkd.in/e4ys_fw6 ✉️ Then there's a debate in Parliament on 27th Oct about raising statutory maternity and paternity pay: email your MP and ask them to attend it: https://lnkd.in/eX2548_2 Credit to Grace Carter 🦋 for getting the 100k signatures on a Parliamentary petition that's led to the debate happening 👏 #PaternityLeave #TwoWeeksIsntEnough ------ Thanks to these creative folks for making this possible: Creative Director: Gemma Phillips Designer: Kerry Roper Photographer: Sane Seven

Look closely. This is no ordinary parking ticket... A new baby now costs between five and ten grand in the first year alone. So at the exact moment parents' costs skyrocket, we hit them with paternity pay on less than half the minimum wage, then follow up with dreadful maternity pay. You couldn't design a system better geared to heaping massive financial stress on fathers and non-birthing parents, particularly those on lower incomes. So is it any wonder that the financial pressure of a new baby is damaging over half of new dads’ mental and physical health, as our new research with Movember found? That's the point we're making with these "Paternity Charge Notices" that Dad Shift supporters have just planted across the country. The Government's parental leave review is a chance to fix both the length and pay of paternity leave, and they need to take it. Add your name to our open letter to the new Business Secretary telling him to make this a top priority here: https://lnkd.in/eNYJXahq Big thanks to Gemma Phillips for the stunt idea, Ben Gold for taking photos, and our friends Amy O'Connor, Ayesha Ahmed and Josh Morgan at Movember for helping make this happen.