A Malaysian man’s call for one month of paternity leave has sparked debate, with parents saying seven days is insufficient to support mothers and newborns.
PATERNITY leave has been a prominent topic of discussion in recent years as more men seek to play a more active role in supporting their wives and caring for their newborns after childbirth.
A Malaysian man recently proposed that fathers nationwide be given at least one month of paternity leave, arguing that caring for a newborn requires far more time than the government’s current entitlement of one week.
“Seven days simply isn’t enough. It’s even worse if the baby is born on a Friday, because two days of the leave are effectively used up over the weekend.
“By the time the baby’s jaundice has cleared, it’s often already been two weeks. It’s unfair to expect the mother to handle everything on her own,” @kmskz__ said in a Threads post.
Under the Employment (Amendment) Act 1955, Malaysian fathers are entitled to seven consecutive days of paid paternity leave, provided they have been employed by the same company for at least one year before taking the leave and have informed their employer of the pregnancy at least 30 days before the expected confinement, or as soon as possible after the birth.
Before 2023, Malaysian fathers had to rely on their employers’ paternity leave policies, which often varied or required them to take unpaid leave. The statutory entitlement was introduced through the Employment (Amendment) Act 2022, which initially proposed three days of paid paternity leave before it was increased to seven days, effective Jan 1, 2023.
Countries such as Singapore provide fathers with four weeks of mandatory government-paid paternity leave. From Apr 1, parents of newborns also became eligible for a national shared parental leave scheme, under which the Singaporean government provides an additional 10 weeks of shared leave on top of existing paternity and maternity leave entitlements.
Opinions were divided. While many supported the suggestion, others argued that extended paternity leave could be misused by irresponsible fathers.
Meanwhile, some users alleged that their workplaces made it difficult to apply for paternity leave, with some employers providing as few as four days, pointing to what they believed was an even bigger issue that needed to be addressed.
“I have been employed for less than a year and wasn’t given any paternity leave. In the end, I had to take a week of unpaid leave to handle my child’s registration and hospital appointments. It was overwhelming at the end of the month because RM500 was deducted from my salary,” one user shared.
“My husband only got seven days of paternity leave, and we spent those seven days going back and forth to the hospital because our baby had to stay in the Special Care Nursery (SCN). Just as we were starting to settle in and take care of the baby at home, he had to return to work. It really felt like I was being left to handle everything on my own,” another user said.
