Italy: Mandatory Paternity Leave
On June 2nd, the Italian House of Deputies began debating a new bill requiring a mandatory four-day paternity leave for all new fathers. If the bill is approved, Italian fathers will be obligated to take four days off immediately after the birth of their new child. The four-day paternity leave would be fully paid by the employing companies or by the Italian social security system for self-employed fathers. Although some companies have already implemented a mandatory paternity leave, such as Nestlé and Intesa San Paolo, the current percentage of fathers taking this time off to support their families is less than 4%. The four days may only hold a symbolic value, but they definitely represent a first step towards better balance in Italian familial responsibilities, especially regarding child care, which is still perceived as only “mothers’ responsibility”, commented Anna Mazzolari, European Diversity’s Italian project associate. According to Barbara Saltamartini, signatory of the PDL party’s proposal, “The real goal is to pass from equal opportunities to equal responsibility. We shouldn’t just think of protecting women, instead we should think of a system that allows families to reorganize themselves.” The regulations on compulsory paternity leave across Europe vary with as much as 30 days leave for fathers in Sweden, where the days can be split into 4 periods over one year, and 11 days in France. The majority of countries offer a smaller number of days, with Spain requiring 4 days plus an optional 30 days, and 3 days for the UK, Germany, Portugal and Spain.
