Men will use paternity leave like a holiday: Maneka Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi may have hit a raw nerve after she likened paternity leave for men in India to another 'holiday'.

According to a media report, Maneka said, "Men in India do not utilise their existing leaves in order to take care of their child. If men gave me one iota of hope by taking sick leave for child care, then yes, we can think of mooting a proposal for paternity leave."

After the passage of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 2016 in Rajya Sabha, women rights activists and parliamentarians have called for the government to consider paternity leave so that men do their bit in raising infants.

Maneka's statement about paternity leave has left the Twitterati fuming, with many accusing her of trivialising a father's role in child raising.

Won't be surprised if next statement of @Manekagandhibjp is - Fathers play no role in development of a child. Mother does everything.

— Deepika Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) August 24, 2016

 

Maneka Gandhi: "Paternity Leave will just be holiday for men,they won't do anything". Maybe she thinks breast feeding is all a newborn needs

— Jagrati Shukla (@JagratiShukla29) August 24, 2016

 

Shameful statement of Maneka Gandhi, she is well known to be a male hater. She should be remove from @MinistryWCD https://t.co/UKoVo6XjqO

— Deeptanshu Shukla (@deeptanshukla) August 24, 2016

"Paternity leave can be considered only if, once the woman goes back to work after her 26 weeks of leave, we find that men are availing their sick leave for a month to take care of the child," she said.

Also read: Rajya Sabha passes Bill to raise maternity leave to 26 weeks

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, protects the employment of women during the time of her maternity and entitles her full paid absence from work, to take care for her child. The amended bill seeks to increase maternity benefit from 12 to 26 weeks for women in the organised sector.