by William Gomes

With the bill, new fathers will have the opportunity to absent themselves from work for 15 days before or after childbirth. The request was made by the Ministry of Public Administration and is available to government employees and private companies related to ministries.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Giving men "paternity leave" to help their wives in the care of the newborn. This was the proposal put forward May 18th last by the Ministry of Public Administration in Bangladesh, urging the government and Ministry for Women and Children to consider the "paternity leave" as a statutory right for men.

Mohammed Hanif, Secretary of the Ministry for Public Administration chief proponent of the proposal, says: "In our country women are entitled to four months maternity leave, in the future it will be increased to six, but are not permitted leave when a child is born or their wife is pregnant. " According to Hanif', husbands instead play a key role in caring for the infant and contribute a lot in the period of childbirth.

With the proposed bill, new fathers will have the opportunity to be absent from work for 15 days before or after childbirth. It is valid for the first two children and is now will only benefit government employees and private companies related to the ministry.  A future extension to the entire male population has not been rules out.  Several human rights organizations have applauded the initiative, which if approved, will set a precedent in the history of an Islamic country.

• bangladesh
• child
• care
• paternity
• leave
• maternity
• ministry
• for
• public
• administration
• islamic
• state