South Africa’s employment history has very little written about employed fathers compared to records about working mothers. However, fathers have been out in the workplace, away from home, longer than mothers have.
During the apartheid era, the migrant labour system contributed to this inequality, forcing fathers to work in areas far away from their homes, allowing them to only visit their families once a year.
Renowned journalist turned lawyer Elfas Torerai is advocating for paternity leave in the mini-dissertation for his LLM degree.
In his dissertation titled “The protection of paternity leave and related rights for employed fathers under the Labour Laws Amendment Act 10 of 2018”, he argues that employed fathers in South Africa are a neglected group that does not have policy protection to care for their families while keeping their jobs.
According to Elfas there is a reluctance to provide for equal leave entitlements for fathers and mothers so that they complement each other in meeting their parental obligations.
He says the migrant labour system reinforced the perception that fathers are bread winners and mothers look after the home and care for children. He says this system forced fathers to put their careers ahead of their parental duties.
“When mothers started joining the workplace, policy makers made provision for leave categories such as maternity leave. However, paternity leave for fathers is still inadequate,” says Elfras.
“The Basic Conditions of Employment Act introduced family responsibility leave that gave fathers a paltry three days off to care for their families, while he Labour Laws Amendment Act repeals family responsibility leave and provides parental leave.
“Parental leave extends leave days available to fathers from three to 10. However, family responsibility and parental leave and their respective benefits are incomparable to those of maternity leave,” he adds.
He further notes that even though fathers and mothers are now present in the workplace, fathers are still absent at home.
“Some families are dual-earners with a father and mother both employed and sharing the economic contribution to the home. The South African Constitution, the Labour Relations Act, the Employment Equity Act, and the two laws mentioned above seek to establish fair labour practices in South Africa. They promote equal pay for work of equal value, and equal opportunity for the same qualification for employed fathers and mothers.
“However, I am of the opinion that there is a reluctance to provide for equal leave entitlements for fathers and mothers so that they complement each other in meeting their parental obligations.”
About the researcher
Before starting with his PhD in law at the NWU this year, Elfas Torerai was a well-known journalist at various newspapers, including the former New Age, AfroVoice and North West Review.
Elfas Torerai
