Gene Kelly. Thierry Henry. Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Whereas they do not seem to have a lot in frequent, they’re among the many statues of well-known and influential males throughout London which have had toy infants strapped to them in latest days.
Monuments of males in Edinburgh have additionally been noticed with toddler dolls hooked up to their chests.
It is all a part of a grassroots marketing campaign pushing for elevated paid paternity depart in the UK.
A statue of Arsenal legend Thierry Henry received the infant therapy from The Dad Shift. Supply: Instagram / The Dad Shift
New dads and co-parents are at present solely entitled to a fortnight of statutory paternity depart, paid at a charge of £184.03 ($358) per week or 90 per cent of their common weekly earnings, whichever is decrease.
It makes the UK’s coverage “the worst in Europe”, in response to The Dad Shift, the marketing campaign group behind the statue stunt.
“I believe it is actually necessary that we did one thing to seize the eye of individuals visually. These monuments are a number of the most necessary folks within the historical past of this nation, and these are the lads that males look as much as,” Dad Shift co-founder Marvyn Harrison advised British radio station LBC.
“We wished to verify we began the dialog with them, however actually that is one thing that helps each father within the nation — but in addition not simply fathers, however moms and their infants as nicely within the early phases.”
The lifesize statue of British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel at London’s Paddington Station was additionally focused by the grassroots marketing campaign. Supply: Instagram / The Dad Shift
It is not the primary time attaching toy infants to statues has been used to make a degree about paternity depart within the UK.
Maternity discrimination charity Pregnant Then Screwed ran the same marketing campaign final October in Liverpool, strapping toddler dolls to statues on a seaside, accompanied by the sound of a child’s cry and indicators calling for parental depart reform.
A latest survey discovered that just about a 3rd of fathers within the UK did not take any paternity depart as a result of low charge of pay.
Harrison stated the poor paternity depart entitlements imply many households are having to make the tough choices between dads and co-parents enjoying an “lively position” of their kids’s lives or with the ability to make ends meet.
“My oldest is eight years outdated, and when he was first born, I used to be over absolutely the, absolute moon, and I contributed all that I might mentally, bodily and emotionally,” he stated.
“When it got here right down to taking day without work of labor, I received two weeks, however really the price of not being in work at full pay meant that after per week and two days, the selection was simply made between us that we really cannot afford to take that a lot day without work and my time can be higher served going again to work, making sufficient cash to create that ease.
“We’re breaking down households by not permitting us serving to to facilitate males’s contribution to the household.”
The dedicated to a overview of parental depart insurance policies in its first yr in workplace.
How a lot paternity depart do Australian dads get?
Not like the UK, Australia does not supply separate maternity and paternity depart — parental depart entitlements are as an alternative paid per eligible household.
New mother and father can rise up to 22 weeks — or 110 days — of depart, at present paid at a charge of $183.16 a day earlier than tax, or $915.80 per five-day week.
A minimum of 10 of these days of depart are reserved particularly for the guardian not thought of to be the delivery mom or first adoptive guardian. Single mother and father are entitled to the complete quantity.
From 1 July 2025, , earlier than rising by one other two weeks a yr later.
Most new mother and father can get further paid and unpaid parental depart by way of their employers.
