Scindia bats for paternity leave for airline employees
Premium- Scindia said that while airlines are doing a tremendous job creating a healthy workplace, there is an urgent need to create a gender-neutral environment even at the workplace
New Delhi: Indian airlines must consider giving male employees paternity leave, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday.
Speaking at an event in the national capital to facilitate women achievers in aviation, Scindia said that while airlines are doing a tremendous job creating a healthy workplace, there is an urgent need to create a gender-neutral environment even at the workplace.
"There is a need to create a gender-neutral environment, which looks at equal responsibilities for men as well as women, in terms of the family environment," Scindia said.
"Why do we look at the concept of maternity leave and not paternity leave where men must also partake in the responsibilities of bringing up children at home," he added.
In 2017, India passed the Maternity (Amendment) Bill, which raised the period of maternity leave for working women from 12 weeks to 36 weeks for the first two children besides providing provisions relating to work from home and crèche facilities.
However, there are no such policies for men.
"Therefore, that mental shift has to happen. We must recognise differences and reimagine the fundamentals of ethics in work place," Scindia added.
Scindia said that while women make up for 15% of total pilots in Indian civil aviation against a global average of 5%, industry should aspire to have 50% women pilots in future.
"It is the need of the hour, for India, a clarion call, to bring our women to the forefront of progress and development so that we can achieve our dreams of becoming an international superpower in the world," Scindia said.
"This is not defined only to the area of airports and airplanes. There is much more to the ecosystem," he added.
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