French Daddies Happy: Law Allows Them Double the Time With New Baby at Home

France has extended the paid paternity leave, doubling it from 14 to 28 days. This requirement will be in effect next July and will also apply to same-sex couples.

“When a baby arrives in the world, there is no reason it should be just the mother who takes care of it,” says President Emmanuel Macron, arguing that parents should have “more equality in sharing the responsibility from the first day.”

The presence of the father in the early moments of his child’s life has many advantages, including an increased commitment to parenting, a fairer distribution of household chores and a decreased in anti-anxiety prescriptions among mothers. French fathers can take paternity leave since 2002, and an estimated 70% of them do.