Fathers should take paternity leave

Specific purpose: To make the audience rethink their gender roles

Thesis: Fathers should take paternity leave.

Introduction:

Attention grabber: Every day that goes by, people are coming up with new ideas and ways to make us humans evolve. We are doing things today people less than 100 years ago couldn’t even dream about.

Relevance to audience/credibility: But we are also still working on the equality between people. If it is between sexes, race or ages, we still have some way to go.

When striving to live in a more equal world, one big step to minimize the gap between men and women and their “different” roles in society is not to only allow parents to share their parental leave but also to make it acceptable for dads to choose to stay home too.

Preview: In this speech I’m going tell you why Fathers should take paternity leave.

Thesis: Fathers should take paternity leave.

Body:

Point 1: First… it improves the relationship between father and child

Transition: First… When having and raising a baby, the mother has naturally a greater bond and responsibility to the baby at first.

She is caring it for 9 months and when its born its dependent on her food to survive. Even if the dad has been next to the child through the whole journey he can be a little bit left out of the bond that the mother and baby naturally makes. According to a Boston College study named “the new dad”, 89 % of fathers actually want to take paternity leave and be apart of when their child in growing up.

By taking paternity leave you also get to create a better, stronger bond with your child and get to be a part of their experiences they face. Jennifer Baxter, a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, states that fathers taking paternity leave is also linked to continue being involved in the child’s life later on. Making their children less likely to be involved in activities resulting in crimes.

Point 2: Second. It maintains a healthier relationship between mother and father

Transition: Second… Having a baby together also means a shared responsibility between the mom and the dad, until the baby grows up to be able to take care of itself. Even though having baby may be the most beautiful gift live has given to you, everyone knows that being a mom or dad its not the easiest job to have. And it will bring a lot of changes and challenges to your relationship, ready for it or not. According to Brigid

Schulte’s, author of “Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time”, dads who take paternity leave and share the responsibility, have a better understanding of what it takes to raise a child and all the effort going into it. It gives the parents same understanding how much work it is and it help understand each other better, making the relationship stronger instead of weaker. Research also done by Brigid Schulte, in Denmark which is one of the most equal countries in the world and where many dads take paternity leave, one Danish father tells her that “they … understand why their wives are tired.”

Point 3: It helps the society too, not only the specific family

Transition: Third… The benefits are not just for the father and child. When fathers do take paternity leave, it results in improving the mothers mental health and wellbeing, but also increased earning potential. According to the Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation, a study done in Sweden, that 40 years ago was the first country in the world that presented gender-neutral paid parental-leave allowance where 180 days per child can be taken out with the 90% of your salary. The study proved that for every month that the father took a paternity leave instead of the mother, the moms earning increased by 6,7 percent. Which in the longer run Minimizes the pay gap between men and women benefitting more families and women.

Conclusion

Summary: In conclusion, as you can see from the previous examples, the advantages for taking paternity leave as a dad are many.

Reinforce thesis: The advantages for taking paternity leave as a dad are many. You get to spend time with your child and create strong relationship You sustain a healthy relationship with your partner in a time where things are tougher and you get to be a role model in showing other people that there doesn’t have to be specific roles for men and women when it comes to taking care of your child.

Memorable ending: The responsibility and tasks can be shared and in its turn make the society more equal between the sexes.