Kanisa George

WELCOMING a new life into the world can be challenging, scary and, for many, a rewarding experience.

It is a journey that often requires support beyond a familial level, yet it is on this level that the most critical support is needed.

Late-night feeding, diaper changes and the much talked about "crying for no reason" calls for using far more hands than one might think is required. When we consider all that is necessary to raise a child, it's no surprise that the oh-so-fitting "it takes a village to raise a child" adage is as famous as it is.

Yet during the most important period of an infant's life, where bonding and nurturing occur, work commitments prevent one of the key players in a child's development from being present. While mothers are granted the time to take care of themselves and their newborn babies, fathers, unfortunately, aren't usually allowed the same luxury.

World War I saw droves of women assuming positions in the workforce, resulting in calls for policies to be restructured to reflect their place in the workplace and their maternal roles.

In 1919, American and European feminists led the global fight for paid maternity leave as a baseline standard of social justice, which paved the way for women today to access paid maternity leave, job security after pregnancy and, in some countries, free medical care during and after pregnancy.

Naturally, the rigours of labour and delivery, coupled with the obvious elements of child-rearing, necessitate that women require a period for healing and rest, not to mention bonding with their newborn baby before heading back to work.

For men, however, such a requirement was never part of the plan and for decades men have been entirely left out of the bonding/transition period after welcoming a baby.

It was only in the late 1960s that the issue of paternity leave was raised in the US when a father was refused an application for no-paid leave for childcare purposes. The application was denied because the childcare leave policies of the Board of Education only applied to female teachers.

A lawsuit brought by his wife against the board argued that granting childcare leave only to women was an invasion of privacy. It forced mothers to be housekeepers and child minders and prevented husbands and wives from dividing family responsibilities as they saw fit.

The Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the "mothers-only rule" discriminated against male teachers as a class. As a result, the board reworded its bylaws to ensure equal rights for fathers.

This decision sparked widespread debate on parental involvement in the initial stages of a child's life and the need for fathers to play a more supportive role during the transition period.

It also raised important questions on addressing situations where fathers were single parents by death or otherwise. Yet with all the progress made in workplace policies and education, there are still gaps concerning paternity leave.

A case study conducted by USAID found th