In Focus by The Hindu In Focus-Parley | Should men get paternity leave in India?
Mar 26, 2026
Professor Ashwini Deshpande, an economist focused on gender and labour, and Sanjoy Ghose, a senior Supreme Court advocate in labour law, debate paternity leave. They discuss why paternity leave matters for children and how caregiving norms limit women’s work. They examine legal protections, risks of discrimination, international models, and practical design and implementation challenges for India.
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Supreme Court Calls Paternity Leave An Injustice
- The Supreme Court framed lack of paternity leave as an injustice affecting the child and gender norms in caregiving.
- Justices said fathers are often relegated to the periphery in infancy, urging the government to examine formal paternity leave law.
Lawyer's Light Anecdote Reveals Deep Gender Expectations
- Sanjoy Ghose shared a personal quip about his daughter's mother telling him to care for the child after birth.
- He used it to illustrate societal expectations that mothers shoulder childcare and the need for fathers to share responsibility.
Childcare Time Use Deeply Skews Women's Economic Opportunity
- Ashwini Deshpande highlighted that Indian women spend about ten times more hours on domestic work than men, concentrating childcare responsibilities on mothers.
- This unequal time use limits women's access to paid work and reinforces labor market gender gaps.