When the government introduced shared parental leave in 2015, it was a brilliant opportunity to change peoples perspectives on parenthood.
Sadly, take-up has been poor. It is estimated that so far only two per cent of dads in the UK have taken advantage of the scheme.
Given that businesses usually offer mums greater parental leave benefits than dads, many women end up taking on the lions share of child care. This happens even though many men would like to play a more active role at home in the early years of their childrens lives.
So its time for more businesses to tackle this pressing social issue and make more parents aware of whats available.
Shared parental leave is a step in the right direction, but if we want talent to be the only measure of success, we need a system that doesnt allow one gender to progress faster than the other.
Thankfully, this is being recognised by more people and companies.
In the last week alone, weve seen a number of significant developments. The Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson tabled a new private members bill in parliament pushing for companies to publicise their parental leave policies on their websites.
Read more: Big businesses could have to make parental leave policies public
On Wednesday, the Treasury Select Committee published a report that found a stigma still exists when it comes to flexible working and parental leave, and that women are being held back.
And research weve announced today shows other worrying trends that the business world must tackle. Not only does it confirm how financial constraints are restricting the take-up of shared parental leave among men, but it also shows that nearly half of working fathers are not even aware that they are entitled to it.
As business leaders, we have the power to do something about that, and I believe that we can do more.
That is why in November last year, we announced that Aviva would be offering our staff 26 weeks of parental leave at full basic pay, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or how they become a parent. We want to level the playing field between men and women, both in the workplace and at home.
For women, this removes barriers to career progression and plays an important role in closing the gender pay gap. And for men, its an opportunity to spend precious time with new arrivals and, in many cases, support the career choices of their partners.
We are not yet a year into our scheme, yet the initial response has been positive, with over 100 men taking advantage of the policy.
Fathers have been overlooked and under-supported for too long. If we want more men to take time off with their young families, we as employers must not only offer parental leave, but normalise it.
We must create a culture where there is no stigma and no negative consequences for parents careers if they choose to take time out.
I realise that not all companies can offer the same leave but, whether large or small, Id encourage businesses to think about how they can creatively support their staff in the early years of parenthood.
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