The secretary of organization of the PSOE, Leire Pajin pointed out a few days ago the success achieved by the equality law, which has been applied since March 2007, which has allowed the processing of a total of 279,756 paternity leave. These figures assume that 80% of parents ask for paternity leave.
The autonomous communities that have registered the greatest number of processes are Catalonia (52,778), Andalusia (45,290), Madrid (44,553) and the Valencian Community (29,478).
Pajin pointed out the success of the government to achieve the reconciliation of family life With work. Is this I must disagree. I do not believe that paternity leave can be considered as a measure of successful conciliation, even if it is a clear improvement over the previous situation.
And it is not, especially if we consider that maternity leave is still clearly insufficient and that mothers hardly find real support from society to take care of their babies themselves without abandoning working life.
Since March 2007, working parents have the right to a 15-day paternity leave independent of that of the mother and compatible with the perception of maternity benefits, when the mother gives her the right.
At least the first fifteen days the father can be with the mother and the baby, to be able to help in those special and sometimes complicated moments. He 80% of parents have requested this permission, and that is a good thing. However, family reconciliation and, above all, adapting the laws to the interests of children and not of productivity, remains a pending issue of Spanish society.
