New Delhi, March 17 (UNI) Highlighting the importance and need for paternity leave, the Supreme Court today exhorted the central government to bring a law on the paternity leave recognising the role of father in the early childhood caregiving, in balanced understanding of shared parenting, and dismantling the gendered role attributed to the mother alone.
Acknowledging the central role of mother to a child’s emotional, physical, and psychological development, a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan in a judgment said that it would be incomplete and unjust to overlook the equally significant role of a father to the to the child’s holistic development. “Parenthood is not a solitary function performed by one parent (Mother) but rather a shared responsibility in which each parent contributes to the child’s holistic development.”
Emphasising on the importance of shared parenting in the holistic childcare, the court in its order said, “We urge the union to come up with a provision recognizing paternity leave as a social security benefit. We emphasize that the duration of such leave must be determined in a manner that is responsive to the needs of both the parent and the child.”
Pointing to the historical absence of a father’s participation in everyday caregiving and shared responsibility, the Supreme Court said that the absence of paternity leave produces two consequences – first, it reinforces gendered roles in parenting and secondly, even where a father is willing and desirous of contributing, he is left without a meaningful opportunity to do so.
“When fathers are afforded the opportunity to take leave following the arrival of the child, they are able to support mother and share family responsibilities. This support extends to participating in the upbringing and caregiving of the child, assisting with household responsibilities, and remaining emotionally present during this demanding phase,” the judgment said.
Authoring the judgment, Justice Pardiwala said, “Although the father is present at the periphery of infancy, yet he is not present in the intimate and irreplaceable way that society has always presumed the mother must be. This acceptance of absence has seldom been examined with the seriousness it deserves. As a result, the cost is borne silently by children who grow up never realizing what they lacked, by fathers who were constrained by circumstances to remain distant. At the same time, by mothers who were denied the companionship and support of their partners in the early phase of caregiving.”
On the dismantling of the gendered roles, the judgment said, “There exists a kind of injustice, although not deliberate, yet based on assumptions so deeply rooted that they have ceased to appear as injustice at all, and have come to be accepted as the natural order of things in society. Society has historically attributed caregiving and nurturing responsibilities almost exclusively to mothers. While the role of a mother is undeniably central to a child’s emotional, physical, and psychological development, it would be incomplete and unjust to overlook the equally significant role of a father.”
In such circumstances, the judgment said that a provision for paternity leave serves an important purpose by enabling fathers to participate meaningfully in the early stages of a child’s life and development. It helps in dismantling gendered roles, encourages fathers to take an active role in child care, fosters a balanced understanding of parenting, and promotes gender equality within family and workplace.
The Supreme Court further said that the “paternity leave also advances the best interests and welfare of the child, which are most effectively served when both parents are enabled to play meaningful and complementary roles in the child’s growth and development. The reasons highlighted in the foregoing paragraphs of this judgment for maternity leave remain similar for paternity leave.”
