Why more men need to take paternity leave

New fathers could do a lot to close the gender pay gap

Dad with son
(Image credit: (David P. Hall/Corbis))

Companies that want women to advance in the workplace and receive equal pay to men are faced with an interesting paradox: Generous paid maternity leave policies, usually meant to support work-life balance for women, may serve to prop open the gender wage gap, and contribute to the disturbing dearth of female top executives. Paternity leave, it turns out, may actually have a stronger impact on gender equity in the workplace.

As we know from Sheryl Sandberg and President Obama, the U.S. still has a long way to go to achieve gender equality in offices. After closing for decades, in 2002 the gender pay gap in the U.S. stalled at around 77 cents to the dollar, and remained there through 2012. In addition, only 23 women currently hold the top position at Fortune 500 companies, reported Bloomberg in December.

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Carmel Lobello is the business editor at TheWeek.com. Previously, she was an editor at DeathandTaxesMag.com.