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Dad life: Will Zuckerberg empower more men to take paternity leave?

Mark Zuckerberg, chairman and CEO of Facebook and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are expecting their first child. Will the Facebook founder's decision to take a two-month paternity leave influence other men to follow in his footsteps? . MOLLY RILEY/AFP/Getty Images

If hoodie-wearing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can take a two-month paternity leave, maybe other new dads can do the same.

While paternity leave has become more common, it still isn’t the norm in Canada.

When Quebec introduced five weeks of father-specific paid leave in 2006, it saw the number of dads taking parental leave skyrocket from 32 per cent to 56 per cent within a year and to about 80 per cent by 2012.

READ MORE: Quebec one of the top places to be a woman, report shows 

In the rest of the country, only 13 per cent of eligible dads take parental leave benefits.

“Overall we’re still a traditional country,” says MaryAnn Mihychuk, Canada’s new Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour.

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But she’d like to change that.

New parents outside Quebec currently get a total of 52 weeks of parental leave, says Mihychuk. Seventeen of those weeks are reserved for the mother, and the remaining 35 weeks (which constitute “parental leave”) can be split however the two parents choose.

You receive up to 55 per cent of your salary from the government during this time, and may get topped up by your employer. Just like with employment insurance, you must have worked 600 hours in the last year to qualify, Mihychuk explains.

“We’re looking at additional ways that [would allow] people…to take time off to be with family – not just [with] children but [with] parents.”

The initiative would be part of the federal Liberals’ “flex time” campaign promise. We won’t know what it will look like until they figure out the final framework. But it may include more time off without pay.

“I can’t explain exactly because we’re just beginning,” Mihychuk says.

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“When we’re doing consultations across Canada, I’m sure that we will be looking at the Quebec model and other innovative practices.”

Leave by (European) example

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When Hugh Knowles decided earlier this year to take a six-month leave following the birth of his daughter, now five weeks old, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

“When I told HR I was going to do it, they were very excited,” the 39-year-old resident of Bath, U.K., recalls.

“They were delighted that someone was taking up the change in the law that allows you to split the parental leave between parents.”

Work-life balance is important to Knowles and his wife: The two bought a less pricey house than they could have, just so money would be less of an issue. their priority was to have more time to spend with their kids (their oldest, a boy, is two years old).

“I am amazed that most countries and companies do not make more provision for this,” Knowles says.

“Two weeks at home is a joke.”

He’s grateful he’ll get to be a big part of his infant daughter’s world. So is his wife, who didn’t enjoy being at home on her own the last time around.

Canada is watching closely, Mihychuk said, to see if it can follow the lead of the U.K. and other European countries.

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Sweden, for example, plans to introduce a third parental leave reserved for fathers next year.

Right now it offers a 16-month parental leave, 14 of which can be split between both parents are two of which are set aside for dads. Fathers have until the child is eight years old to use the government benefits.

Close to 90 per cent of Swedish fathers take the paternity leave, according to The Guardian.

A potential drawback of longer parental leaves, though, is that they can sometimes perpetuate a glass ceiling if employers are less inclined to hire any potential procreators for fear of losing them for extended periods of time.

Mihychuk figures that if parental leave were distributed more equally between parents and if it became commonplace, there would be fewer negative professional consequences.

Some studies have indicated that it’s had some impacts on promotions…I think if it was distributed more fairly…that kind of difference would be mitigated.”

Perks of pat leave

When Zuckerberg explained his decision to take time off when his daughter is born, he cited studies showing “that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families.”

Research has shown that the longer a father’s paternity leave is, the more his brain changes to make him better suited to parenting.

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Those who studied Sweden’s system also found mothers’ incomes increased almost seven per cent for every month of paternity leave their husbands took.

Ankita Patnaik, an economist from Cornell University who examined Quebec’s parental leave policy, discovered other benefits extending beyond the parents’ leave period.

“In households where men were given the opportunity to use this [paternity leave] benefit, fathers’ daily time in household work was 23 per cent higher.”

Men’s increased presence in the household has also been shown to boost women’s workforce participation.

“Getting more fathers access to family leave would be good for the men, good for their children — and, my research suggests, good for gender equity at work as well as at home,” Patnaik concludes.

READ MORE: Rwanda ranks higher in gender equality than Canada: report

A ‘Zuckerberg effect?’

Mihychuk certainly hopes more men will follow in the Facebook founder’s footsteps.

But Zuckerberg has a tough road ahead of him in the U.S. Even Knowles, who’s taking six months off, admits he was surprised to hear Zuckerberg would take two.

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The United States has the least generous government policies regarding paid parental leave among the world’s 38 most prosperous countries, according to Pew Research.

The pressure is especially great in Silicon Valley. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was criticized in 2012 when she came back to work a week after the birth of her firstborn, and again this year when she announced she only plans to take “a couple weeks” off following the birth of twins.

“To see a business leader like [Zuckerberg], particularly someone who works in a sector that’s incredibly fast-paced — and he’s the founder — I think to do that is a remarkable thing,” Knowles says. “But he certainly should be doing it.”

“There’s no reason his child shouldn’t be more of a priority than running his company for two months.”

“I think it sends a very interesting and clear message to people that spending time with your children is just as valuable as running one of the most valuable companies in the world.”

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