Study: Being a Dad in Canada
More dads taking paternity leave: study
Updated Wed. Jun. 13 2007 10:15 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A growing number of dads are taking paternity leave from work to
attend to the birth or adoption of a child, according to findings
published by Statistics Canada.
The report, General Social Survey: Navigating family transitions,
found that the number of fathers taking leave has grown since 2001,
although men are still returning to work sooner than mothers.
The proportion of men who took leave for a birth or adoption
increased from 38 per cent in 2001 to 55 per cent in 2006. Most men
returned to their jobs within one month.
"Although you're legally allowed, there's still kind of a stigma
behind doing it," one father, who asked to remain anonymous, told
CTV.ca.
He decided to take a month off work after the birth of his second child.
"People kind of make fun of you and you worry about if your job's going to be there when you get back," he said.
The proportion of women who took leave remained stable at nearly 90
per cent during the same time period but mothers generally stayed home
for much longer.
Nearly half of mothers returned to work between 12 to 47 months following the child's arrival.
Still, 23 per cent of parents who took leave did not reintegrate into the labour market, the report found.
More than half who remained at home said the decision was based on a
desire to raise their children themselves. Nearly 24 per cent of
parents said they did not return to work because it was too expensive
to pay for child care services.
The majority of parents, 86 per cent, who took leave from work reported they were satisfied with their return to the job.
However, mothers who returned to work underwent far more stress than men, the study found.
Six out of every 10 mothers reported the transition back to work as
stressful and one-fifth said it was very stressful. Meanwhile, 65 per
cent of fathers rated the transition as not too stressful or even not
stressful at all.
The data also showed that nearly half of parents returning to work
felt that balancing their job and family responsibilities was the main
source of stress.
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posted by Matt @ 6/15/2007
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