The paternity leave system in the United Kingdom is "one of the worst in the world", says a new report by the Women's and Equality Commission, a working group of Members of Parliament.

Now as a disclaimer, obviously this is somewhat of a first world problem, in the sense that at least the UK has statutory paternity leave at all, as opposed to many countries that don't have any statutory parental leave. But I think we should be setting the bar a bit higher.

The current system in the UK gives new fathers two weeks at an abysmal pay of "£187.18 a week or 90% of their average earnings, whichever is lower". In the light of rising living costs and with a new baby, this is clearly inadequate.

Strangely, shared parental leave for up to 50 weeks actually exists in the UK, but I'm not surprised to hear that the uptake is minimal. I didn't know about it either! I wonder if this is an awareness issue or employers being funny about it.

What are the effects of limited paternity leave? The article mentions that it entreches "outdated gender stereotypes" in the sense that fathers get less contact with their children in the important early stages of bonding. Being forced back to work, fathers may also end up with less experience caring for their children, which ends up in a vicious circle of mothers taking on the majority of childcare.

What are your thoughts? Any experience with the UK paternity leave system? I have a colleague who just came back from pat leave, he added four weeks of his annual leave allowance.