Today, at the Commission on the Status of Women’s official side event “Sharing the Care,” presented by the Permanent Mission of Iceland, the Government Offices of Sweden, UN Women, MenEngage, and MenCare, we are debating what data, policies, and programs can truly revolutionize and advance the unpaid care agenda.
At MenCare, we believe that full equality will only be achieved when men take on 50% of the childcare and domestic work globally. Leave for fathers – in conjunction with leave for mothers and additional structural solutions – has the power to contribute significantly to the recognition and redistribution of care work and to transform deeply rooted inequalities between men and women.
We are launching the MenCare Parental Leave Platform to call on governments and employers to adopt parental leave policies that are:
- Equal for women and men.
- Non-transferable between parents.
- Paid according to each parent’s salary.
- Adequate in length for each parent, with a minimum of 16 weeks for each.
- Offered with job protection.
- Encouraged and incentivized.
- Inclusive for workers of all kinds.
- Combined with subsidized, high-quality childhood education and care, and other policies to ensure equity in all caregiving, particularly in low-income settings.
- Supportive of diverse caregivers and caregiving.
- Enshrined and enforced in national law and in international agreements.
Download the full MenCare Parental Leave Platform here – and use it to inform and advance local, national, and international advocacy around unpaid care.
Join the conversation! Add your voice on Twitter today using hashtags #CSW60 and #SharingTheCare and following @MenCareGlobal.