Rehovot Men Enjoy Maternity Leave. Instead of Wives

Growing number of men in Israel leave place of work, take maternity leave instead of wives

"A new trend: More and more men, whose wives have just given birth, leave their job and substitute their wife on maternity leave. A survey carried out by the national insurance institute shows that 157 men took a maternity leave this year.

Most of these supporting fathers came from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Kfar Saba. In Ashdod and Bnei-Brak, not even one could be found.

The taking of a maternity leave for men pays off: A father on maternity leave gets an average of 444 NIS per day, whereas the deliverer gets only 194 NIS per day. The reason for this is due to the fact that the allowance is given according to salary, and in this case, men's salaries are higher.

Since 1998, the law allows men to go on partial maternity leave. At first they were in no hurry to use this option but the phenomenon accelerated in past years. Nevertheless, numbers are still low.

A survey conducted by Esther Toledano from the Research and Planning Department at the National Insurance Institute lead by Leah Achdut, shows that in 2003, 128 men took a maternity leave. A year later, 150 men took it and this past year the number rose to 157 men.

In first place is Tel Aviv with 22 men who received birth allowance this last year. After that comes Jerusalem with 21 men, Kfar Saba 16 men, Petach Tikva 14 men, Ramla 11 men and in sixth place comes Rehovot with 10 men.

In the past year, 133,561 babies were born in Israel, 2,865 of them twins and 66 triplets and more."

Source: David Regev. Men in Bnei Brak don’t go on maternity leave. Ynetnews.com (28 September 2006) [FullText]