Paternity leave for American dads?

A US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's paternity leave comes under fire as some even go to the extent to question his work ethic. While experts say that paternity leaves are more necessary than we think and polls show that most Americans support the idea of paid parental leaves, cultural biases continue to obstruct the adoption of the practice in many workplaces. Research indicates that adopting such policies can help with everything from family finances to improving gender equity in the workplace. 

It is still not the norm for fathers in the US to apply for a few weeks of parental leave. Research shows that only 5% of new dads take at least two weeks of parental leave. Paternity leave continues to be an outlier in the US- the only developed nation that does not have a federal law that mandates paid leave for parents. For most workers, access to paid leave is determined by the benefits package offered by the employer. Even in Fortune 500 companies, parental leave is not a given. Richard Petts, a sociology professor at Ball State University says, "We expect that fathers should be financial providers first, and so there is a stigma attached to valuing family over work by taking paternity leave. There have been a few studies showing that workers are perceived as less committed to their jobs when they take parental leave."

Source: CBS News