Equality Win: A New Generation of Paternity Leave

As of 2022, sixty-three percent of countries worldwide provide paid paternal leave.

“There is widespread recognition that we don’t solve gender equality without dads getting leave,” says Jody Heymann, founding director of the policy center and a UCLA distinguished professor of public health and affairs.

Europe and Latin America are particularly recognized as areas of the world that guarantee paid leave for fathers – while notably, the United States does not yet guarantee paternal (or maternal) leave. The percentage of countries that offer paternal leave has risen significantly in recent years, with only 46 countries having had any sort of paid leave policy in place for fathers back in the 1990s. Today, that number has nearly tripled.