Much is said (& documented) about the lack of female figures in the higher positions of companies. A lot is also being done to try and reset the balance here in terms of opportunities, but I would argue that this is not the only avenue that should be explored.

Why are women not in these roles? Often it is because they have had a career gap in the form of maternity leave, potentially then followed by a reduction in hours to part time. Yes growing a human being is a lot of work and I know that myself & many women wouldn’t change that, or the time off, for their careers. Why would we want to miss any of that precious time & milestones watching and supporting our little ones. But has anyone ever stopped to ask why only mum takes the time off? 

Only mum gets maternity pay. Dad can’t afford to take a prolonged period of time off, especially as it would likely have to be unpaid. 

Most households could not afford the drop from a 2 income household to only maternity pay should dads take the decision to have prolonged time off. 

Yes there is the option of shared leave but this can limit our children to time with one parent or reduced time with both, as if taken at the same time both parents must return to work sooner.

Some companies have brought their policies up to date and into the modern era. The maternity/ paternity offering is the same and can be utilised by both parents. Thus allowing both parents to be part of their child’s early life and take part in those early milestones. Companies such as this should be commended, but in reality this should be the norm. 

Whilst I appreciate it is up to individual companies to set their policies the government could, and should, be doing more to influence this and should also be doing more in terms of what they offer.

Rather than statutory maternity pay why can’t there be statutory parental pay that can be paid to both mum and dad (or both dads/mums depending on the family set up). There is a wealth of evidence that children benefit massively from being in a two parent household so why is more not being done to encourage this time together? 

This change would give children the benefit or increased family time in early life. It would have a knock on effect into companies as would be a more even distribution of prolonged leave thus creating a more level playing field for applications into top jobs