2024-02-02 06:00:08
Arnold Schwarzenegger, nightmares regarding his future “motherhood”, in “Junior” (1994), a comedy by Ivan Reitman. ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
It’s March, evening is falling, and it’s my second day of work since the end of my paternity leave. My colleague Camille gives me this provocation in a sarcastic tone: “You think you’re a hero, have you been glorified? » We laugh.
I then thought of Junior (1994), Ivan Reitman’s misunderstood masterpiece, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger conducts an experiment on himself causing him to become “pregnant”. This comedy aims to confront a man – not just any man, we are talking regarding the one who was, among others, Mister Universe five times – with the physical and societal pains of motherhood. Obviously, since it’s Arnold and he’s doing something literally extraordinary, we can’t help but take him for a hero.
I admit: during my paternity leave, I too felt like a hero. The law, my employer and a clever calculation in the paid leave management software allowed me to take a total of ninety-seven days. That’s ninety-four days more than my father, and… ninety-seven days more than my grandfather. And, on average, fifty-seven more than French fathers, who took twenty days of paternity leave in 2022, according to the Social Security department. Most of my colleagues thought my choice was great.
Also read the interview | Article reserved for our subscribers Hélène Périvier, economist: to boost fertility, “we need to play on several public policies”
Raphaël also remembers colleagues who told him: “Ah, you’re one of those fathers, that’s good! » This 42-year-old former employee, now an independent graphic designer and father of two children (the eldest of whom was born before the new paternity leave came into force), considers himself ” lucky “. It took two months in total. “I needed to be there right away”he assures.
“Reproductive work”
My daughter, let’s call her Junior, as in the film, was born following July 1, 2021, the date on which the new paternity leave, lasting twenty-five calendar days plus three mandatory days, came into force. This leave was previously for a duration of eleven days, since 2002. Before these eleven days, the leave, long called “family solidarity leave”, in lasted three, imposed in 1980, the date on which the current maternity leave, i.e. sixteen weeks, was set.
From Junior’s birth, in December 2022, until mid-March 2023, we were, with his mother, D., in this timeless bubble blown by the Family Allowance Fund and labor law. This bubble, which the administration describes as ” leave “ (maternity, paternity or parental), however, is not a moment of rest. For Hélène Périvier, economist at the French Observatory of Economic Conditions and specialist in social and family policies and gender inequalities, this period meets the definition of “reproductive work” (as opposed to work “productive”), which she equates to domestic work in the broad sense (cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.). She also mentions an INSEE study, carried out in 2010, which assesses the value of this work « 17% of GDP ».
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