Only 1 in 4 men seek to balance their work with childcare

While 6 in 10 women consider leaving their jobs for jobs with a better work-life balance, only 1 in 4 men look for jobs where they can offer paternity days, according to ManpowerGroup studies.

“The lack of equity in the world of work between men and women demands actions that encourage the participation of men in activities such as caring for children and family. It is time to break with the beliefs and limitations that make us assume that women can only carry out certain activities,” said Fernando Bermúdez Pire, director of Corporate Relations.

The main objective of paternity leave is to redistribute unpaid activities carried out both in caring for children and in the home.

According to Inegi, women dedicate, on average, 28.8 hours a week to care activities for a household member, while in the case of men, the average is 12.9 hours a week. Furthermore, women allocate 40 hours a week to unpaid domestic work, while men only 16 hours.

In recent years, the Legislative Branch began working on an initiative to increase paternity leave from 5 to 20 days. Leaves for both parents in the same number of days and mandatory guarantee gender equality, which is why it is important to gradually balance the times that both are allowed to dedicate to caring for children.

Among the countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average number of paternity days is seven to eight weeks.

The Federal Labor Law in Mexico stipulates a period of five days of paternity leave for men. In the case of working mothers, maternity leave is six weeks before and six weeks after childbirth or adoption.

In Latin America, countries like Argentina offer 13 weeks of maternity leave, and 2 days of paternity leave. Colombia 18 weeks of maternal leave and 8 days of paternity leave, and Brazil 17 weeks for the mother and 5 days of leave for the father.

“Involving men in the care, upbringing and education of sons and daughters allows us to value the tasks that women have performed predominantly for many years, contributing to breaking the gender gap in the world of work through the participation of men. , not just women,” said the director of Corporate Relations at Manpowergroup.