My View: Stephanie Smith

I don’t want to make assumptions but it did occur to me that, on International Women’s Day, a significant proportion of British women will have found themselves, if not exactly chained to the stove, then standing over it, frying pan in one hand, mobile phone in the other, checking work emails while simultaneously attempting to flip a wadge of pancake stodge without it ending up on either ceiling or floor.

This is what we call equality – the right to juggle being an unpaid cook, cleaner, decorator, homework supervisor and children’s entertainer at home with being a paid worker outside the home, albeit generally paid less than men, as many part-time women workers have developed a Tardis-like ability to squeeze masses of productive work into fewer office hours, exchanging some flexibility for the privilege of spending evenings and weekends catching up with emails, in their “own time”.

This is life as we know it for millions of British working mothers, and many indeed are grateful for it. Only one in five women describes herself as a feminist and, according to a survey this week, only one in 20 believes her greatest problem is sexism at work. In contrast, almost two-thirds say their biggest concern is balancing work and family life.

Why the life-balance concern? Because women are expected, and largely expect themselves, to carry the burden of child care from the moment a baby is born.

Last week, Alan Sugar opined that women should be more open about declaring their status regarding having children when interviewed for jobs, as small businesses in particular were placed at risk by having to cover maternity leave. But why should he, and others, assume that young women are potential maternity hazards waiting to happen? Why should men not declare their intentions too? Well, actually, they should, because fathers of children born on or after April 3 this year will be entitled to 26 weeks’ paid paternity leave, meaning that new dads can be off work either in place of their partner or after she has returned to work.

For most families, finances will dictate who takes time off work and for how long, but this is a significant step towards equality for working mothers, many of whom will be able to return to the workplace after maternity leave feeling far happier about leaving the baby with the husband for a few vital months than having to cart junior off to nursery. This move will enable both men and women – and employers – to begin to view fathers as fully-functioning parents, equally capable of and responsible for looking after children. So soon it will be Dad standing over the stove tossing pancakes – and he won’t expect a round of applause from anyone but his own children.