Mexico: bill tabled to extend paternity leave to two months

A bill tabled on 28 October by Manuel Baldenebro, a member of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies of the ruling centre left Morena party and chairman of the lower house’s labour committee, seeks to extend paternity leave from five working days at present to 60 days with pay. The text proposes to amend Article 132-1 of the Mexican federal labour law, which deals with employers’ obligations, whereby companies would be obliged to grant fathers 60 days of paternity leave if they so wish. “The current five-day leave allowance is insufficient and places the workload of childcare on women,” the deputy writes in his bill, pointing out that mothers are entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave (six weeks before the birth and six weeks after). This legislation leads to “discrimination”, the deputy says, adding that the whole point of this bill is to “combat gender stereotypes”, to achieve “shared responsibility” in the raising of children, and to “establish true gender equality in the home and in society”. In September Arturo Zaldívar, President of the Supreme Court of Justice, made the surprising announcement that civil servants in the judicial branch would be entitled to three months of paid paternity leave. Baldenebro’s bill will have to be discussed and approved in committee before it can go to a plenary session.