The world’s first ‘DadStrike’ has been called in the UK to protest the country’s statutory paternity leave offer.
Pete Target will be joining the strike on 11 June, when fathers will form a family-friendly picket line at the Department of Business and Trade from 4pm.
“Those first months are all pressure, exhaustion and the feeling that you can’t win,” he said.
“I was either letting my new family down, my work, or usually both.
“Juggling that pressure is how you find yourself in the ridiculous position I was – with a 20-day-old baby sat on top of my keyboard as I worked. I felt lucky to do even that, loads of dads can’t.
“We deserve better, it’s time for a DadStrike.”
Almost two-thirds (62%) of fathers of young children say their biggest regret from their child’s first year of life is that they didn’t get to spend enough time with them, according to new polling by The Dad Shift.
The campaign group argues that not allowing dads ample time with their newborns places an undue caring burden on women – and sets a pattern that continues throughout the early years.
Marvyn Harrison, a self-employed dad of two, said: “I had to go back to work just two weeks after my first child was born. Still sleep-deprived. Still figuring out how to hold a baby. Still watching my partner go through the hardest time of her life. And I had to leave.
“And ever since? It’s been the same battle. Hustling to provide, rushing home late, missing bedtime, answering emails when I should be making memories. And for what?”
He added: “The UK has the worst paternity leave in Europe. Two weeks. Half the minimum wage. Zero support for self-employed dads. We’re told ‘family comes first’, but when do we actually get to act like it?”
George Gabriel, from The Dad Shift, said the UK’s “rubbish” paternity leave system means from the day kids are born, “most fathers are forced to make an impossible choice – between going out to work and provide for our families, and providing them with the one thing that matters most, our presence”.
“There’s been a lot of talk about fatherhood lately and it was great to see Sir Keir Starmer saying ‘I don’t want to be one of those blokes who says, I wish I’d spent more time with my kids.’ If you want to spend more time with your kids, spend more time with your kids and do it now. Don’t talk about it.’
“But for too many dads that’s just not possible.”
