A father and his child on the beach (illustrative image).

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CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP

Less than 1% of fathers take full-time parental leave after the birth of their child, while a reform in force since 2015 aimed to increase this rate to 25%, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Its authors suggest increasing the system's compensation and combating a “gender effect”.

The rate of use of fathers for parental leave "has hardly increased" with this reform, going from 0.5% to 0.8% for full-time leave - against nearly 14% for mothers, note the authors of this study carried out by the French Observatory of Economic Conjunctures (OFCE, dependent on Sciences Po Paris).

Blame it on compensation?

And part-time leave - for employees who continue to work but reduce their working hours - only attracts 0.9% of fathers of a child (13.2% of mothers) and 1.8% of fathers of a child. two or more children.

Since the start of 2015, parental leave no longer lasts three years, but two (for families with at least two children), unless the parents share it: for example the mother can stop working for two years, and the father take over in the third year.

What the overwhelming majority of fathers therefore do not do.

According to the authors, this failure is largely attributable to the low amount of compensation offered, i.e. 399 euros per month for full-time leave, regardless of previous compensation.

However, this aspect does not explain everything, because even fathers who were already working part-time before the birth of their child, and who would therefore have nothing to lose by requesting part-time leave - which would entitle them to a 149 to 258 euros per month in addition to their usual income - make little use of it: only 30% of fathers in this situation claim the allowance, against 75% of mothers in the same situation.

"A woman's affair"

This finding suggests "a gendered effect of parental leave", explained to AFP Hélène Périvier, one of the two authors of the study - with Grégory Verdugo.

Perhaps some fathers do not know their rights well, or others consider that this leave "is a woman's affair", or they are "dissuaded" because they find that their male colleagues do not resort to it. not, the authors assume.

To achieve more parity, the study recommends a "more ambitious reform", which would involve "compensation calculated in proportion to past wages", as in Scandinavia or Germany.

"But that will probably not be enough", believe the authors, who suggest an "information and awareness campaign" to "reduce the gender bias that affects this device".

The government is currently conducting a "reflection" on a possible reform of parental leave, told AFP the office of the Secretary of State for Children and Families Adrien Taquet.

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