Abstract
The importance of the presence of a father during and or immediately thereafter a childbirth has been found to contribute to the child’s physical and psychological well-being. Traditionally, fewer men have been said to be around in the first moments and/or days of the birth of their children because of the difficulty in getting time off from work. One of the factors that contributes to the less visibility of fathers during child’s birth is associated with the challenging decision to be made by the fathers, that is, whether to take days off work and lose on their income or continue working and ensure that their income is not reduced by the many days that would potentially be spent away from work and in turn, secure the needs of the new-born child(ren) financially. This is despite the laws prescribing the realisation of gender equality and prevention of unfair discrimination.
This study focuses on the evaluation and analysis of paternity leave right(s) in South Africa in order to establish whether it is fair that the existing law does not make a corresponding leave in a form specific to fathers before, during and after the birth of their child(ren).