Parental Leave: More and better choices for everyone
- Condominium Group
- Dec 30, 2007
- 2 min read
Parental Leave: More and better choices for everyone
December 31, 2007
When Jeff Feiner was an associate at a Bay Street law firm in Toronto, he took three parental leaves: "I always knew that having children was going to have an impact on my career because I knew that I wanted to spend as much time with my children as possible." Feiner took full use of the parental leaves offered by his firm so that he could spend time at home after each of his three children were born.
"There will never be gender equality in the workplace unless and until there is gender equality domestically. There should not be a default assumption that the mother is the primary caregiver."
Feiner makes it clear that it was important to both him and to his wife, then an associate at another Bay Street firm, that both of them spend time with their children and show them that both parents are responsible for caregiving. Still, it wasn't easy; they were contending with the reality that many women in private practice face: they find it more difficult to advance after they return from leave, and are leaving private practice at higher rates than men. Now a partner at Corman Feiner LLP, Feiner says "There will never be gender equality in the workplace unless and until there is gender equality domestically. There should not be a default assumption that the mother is the primary caregiver."" Although men taking parental leave will not change those assumptions overnight, it's a start.
This is an excerpt from an article for the Ontario Bar Association, oba.org.
