Paternity Benefits We have been brought up with traditional societal norms that men are the “breadwinners” of the family and women are the housewives. Traditional gender roles have been challenged over the past century with the growth of women entering into the labour force that has left men to take on more child care responsibilities. It was found that, “over 80% of all women aged 25-54 are now in the paid labour force, compared to 52% in 1976” (Daly, 2005, p. 10). This has led to alternative parental leave responsibilities for fathers to take on shared parental leave with mothers or take paternity leave entirely. In Canada, parental leave is low due to men’s work environments not supporting taking leave due to their role as being the provider of the family, and this is causing men to doubt their own ability to be a good parent (Daly, 2005, p.10). Also, there is no paternity benefits for …show more content…
550). For either parent to be eligible in the previous tax year, they have to accumulate $2000 or more in earnings which gains more accessibility amongst the diverse family situations that are present in Canada (McKay et al., 2016, p. 550). Fathers who are eligible have two options; firstly, they would have access to five weeks of paternity leave benefits with a 70 percent replacement rate or, second access to five weeks of paternity leave benefits with a 75 percent replacement rate. (Beaujot et al., 2013, p. 225). This program since set in place has increased fathers to take paternity leave amongst other provinces. In 2010, children aged one to three years’ old who had fathers who worked before the birth of their newborn who took parental leave was 76.1 percent in Quebec, and 26.0 percent in provinces outside of Quebec (Beaujot et al., 2013, p.