I Want Maternity Leave — A Father’s Call…

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Why fathers get 15 days, mothers get 26 weeks — and the world calls it equality.

Laddoos were being distributed in my office when a quiet revolution began. A young employee who had joined the organization only a year ago had become a father.
Sweetness flooded the room, and a simple query sowed the seeds of a protest that would emerge days later.

He wanted to know: “Sir, how many days of leave will I get to take care of my baby?”
I explained the rules.
Male employees in India are entitled to 15 days of paternity leave under government rules and regulations.

A female employee gets 26 weeks of maternity leave.
There are other choices available, including childcare leave, adoption leave, and miscarriage leave.
He didn’t smile.
He merely said, “This is unfair, sir.”
However, in the midst of the pleasure, a concern arose: “Does a father not have the right to be with his newborn?”

A father of 15 days and a mother of 180 days:
The system has determined that a newborn belongs to the mother for 180 days and the father for only 15.
After that, the father comes back to his original form: a file, a…