Some of the most persistent gender inequalities are related to the burden of unpaid care work on women, which often translates into job insecurity and fewer opportunities for personal and professional advancement. Parental leave can be a critical measure for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment at work and in the home. 

Protected, paid leave enables women to maintain a greater degree of financial independence with continued earnings to support themselves and their families. It also increases the likelihood that they will remain in the labour market. Furthermore, paternity and parental leave promote involved fatherhood, which can be transformational during the early months of children’s lives and send a message that no parent should be singularly responsible for care work.

The benefits of parental leaves for gender equality include:

• Improves women’s health by allowing for physical and mental recovery from the physiological changes associated with childbearing and childbirth.The postpartum period can be characterized by medical challenges for women such as pain, lactation issues, depression, infections, and stress. For those who choose or be able to, designated leave for women after they give birth also facilitates exclusive breastfeeding, which is a recommendation of the World Health Organization (source). 
• Prevents maternity discrimination through protection measures. Women may be considered less desirable hires if they have family responsibilities, and women of childbearing age can be treated as a liability because of the perception that their potential care responsibilities will in future impair their dedication or availability at work. 
• Alleviates financial strains. Without strong guarantees and provisions associated with paid parental leave, many families face a choice of economic hardship or returning to work prematurely. Parents are therefore likely to resume work as soon as possible for financial reasons – which, especially for mothers, can harm their health and wellbeing and that of their infant. It also helps prevent career setbacks women face after having children, known as the “mom penalty.”
• Involves dads in the process. The lack of sufficient parental leave reinforces gender norms and double standards that have different impacts on women and men in heterosexual relationships. Gender stereotypes can stifle men who feel confined to the traditional role of provider yet sincerely wish to spend time with their children. It can also help to foster co-parenting and deconstruct harmful gender norms at the household level by promoting shared childrearing and household responsibilities.
• Invests in future generations. When they are supported by leave, parents can better meet their infant’s nutrition, early stimulation, and other healthcare needs – including immunization – which helps to prevent costly health risks in the future (source). Parental leave is even linked to infant survival; evidence from countries at all income levels shows that longer periods of maternity leave reduce infant mortality rates (source). 

In recent years, positive shifts have occurred in the legal and policy landscape of parental leave: away from exclusively providing maternity leave, in favour of providing shared parental leave; and away from individual notions of childcare responsibility, towards models of co-responsibility. In this evolving landscape, a careful mix of policies that are responsive to local socio-legal contexts can help to produce a strong system that allows women and men to succeed in their work and personal lives.

The following are relevant considerations for designing or assessing regulatory frameworks in the area of parental leave.

• Adoption leave: In a number of countries, adoptive parents are granted the right to parental leave (if it exists), but they should also be entitled to maternity and paternity leave or to a special leave period with provisions specifically for adoption. Adoptive parents in a same-sex partnership or who are single must also be eligible for an equitable guarantee of leave.
   
• Benefits payment: Some countries pay 100% of the worker’s previous earnings up to a ceiling; others have no cap; others provide lump-sum payments. To be in conformity with ILO Convention 183, the cash benefits during maternity leave must be at least two-thirds of the worker’s previous salary, or a comparable amount.
   
• Compulsory leave: In some countries, there is a compulsory leave period for mothers immediately following childbirth – usually of six weeks. This is intended to prevent employers from rushing women back to work before they have recovered from delivery.
   
• Co-responsibility: A policy framework that stresses shared contributions and provisions for childcare by the State, families, businesses, and/or communities – the latter group including trade unions, civil society organizations, international organizations, informal networks, and the non-profit sector. Parental co-responsibility is a term to describe measures aimed at promoting men’s increased participation in childrearing and family tasks (i.e., co-parenting).
   
• Eligibility requirements: While they vary based on the financing scheme used to fund the program, requirements generally include working a certain amount of time for the same employer and payments to a social security plan. Removing these types of eligibility requirements will create greater equity for parents in the workforce and will in general positively benefit low-income workers.
   
• Eligibility requirements for paternity leave: In some cases, applications for paternity leave must be accompanied by medical certification of a partner's pregnancy, and/or the child's official birth certification with the father's name as evidence of paternity acknowledgment. If the parent intending to take paternity leave is not the child's biological father but is the co-habitating co-parent, alternative declarations of paternal responsibility may be included.
   
• Extensions: Most countries provide for a few weeks’ extension to maternity leave in the case of complications arising from pregnancy or delivery, and if the child is born with a disability or requires hospital care for an extended period of time. Many countries also extend maternity leave allowance in the case of multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.).
   
• Length of leave: The general consensus in the international practitioner community is that a minimum of six months of paid maternity leave is desirable. When maternity leave is too short, mothers may not feel ready to return to work and end up dropping out of the paid labour force. It is also recommended that governments and businesses provide at least nine months of combined parental leaves (maternity, paternity, shared), which would equate to at least three months of parental leave (beyond the six months for maternity leave) that can be shared between the two parents.
   
• Protective measures: Women and men must be guaranteed the right to return to work in the same or an equivalent position, and to be paid no less than what they earned prior to their leave. In cases where a worker brings a claim forward after being dismissed or demoted as a result of pregnancy or parental status, the burden of proof should be on the employer to prove otherwise.