Manifestations and marches held simultaneously this Saturday (9) in São Paulo, Brasilia, Recife and Rio de Janeiro brought together fathers, mothers and children to draw attention to the need to increase paternity license to 30 days. The acts were organized by the Paternity License Coalition (Copai), which draws attention to the fact that the five days of paternity leave were to be temporary, but in 37 years there was no regulation.
Currently, the license for parents is five consecutive days in cases of child birth, adoption or shared custody. The law is foreseen in the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) and was created with the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution. However, in December 2023, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) gave a period of 18 months for Congress to regulate paternity leave. The deadline won in July and the forecast is that Parliament addresses the theme in the return of the recess.
The decision of the Supreme Court came after judgment of an action presented by the National Confederation of Health Workers (CNTs). Minister Luis Roberto Barroso prevailed in the trial to recognize the omission of the Congress to approve the regulation of the norm. The understanding was followed by the other ministers.
For the president of the Copai License Coalition (Copai), Camila Bruzzi, the paternal presence in the early months of babies’ life is fundamental and an enlarged paternity license brings lasting impacts that benefits everyone: the child, the mother, the father, the family, the companies and the whole society.
“True expanded paternity leave promotes a cultural transformation and makes parents participate more in the care of their children in a permanent way. International data demonstrates that when parents have prolonged paternity leave, they develop deep bonds with the baby, oxytocin peaks and changes in the brain that make them more welcoming and patients,” he explained.
According to Copai, there are already studies indicating that ”that the expansion of paternity leave reduces maternal overload, improves child development, can help prevent violence and drug use in adolescence, and has a minimum cost, being less than 1% of social security. Companies that already adopt an expanded paternity license report increased productivity of employees on their return,” says the organization. According to the Datafolha survey, 76% of Brazilians support the expansion of paternity leave.
Copai ambassador, Tadeu France, points out that the country faces a cultural difficulty that nourishes the idea that father is just the provider and only goes out to put money in the house.
“This overloads women, mothers, all the time, many years ago. And this movement comes to reinforce that the presence of the father, especially in these early days of the child’s life, is fundamental to the development of them and our development as well as man and caregiver,” he reinforces.
Also Copai Ambassador, journalist Felipe Andreoli is one of the supporters of the cause. He says that when he was a father for the first time he cannot have a longer paternity license and that was painful. “The second time as a father I could enjoy more time with my baby and my wife and so I am totally advocating for the expansion of paternity leave of at least 30 days in Brazil,” he says.
Law
The Bill (PL) 6.216/2023 of the House (as well as the Senate 3,773/2023) proposes the expansion of paternity leave to 30 days and its progressive increase to 60 days over 5 years. 3,773/2023, which is being processed in the Senate, adopted the same text after joints from the mixed parliamentary front by the paternity license dealing with the theme in Congress, created in 2024.
“The parliamentary front has more than 250 deputies (as) and senators, from parties from the various political spectra. It unites from left to the right and shows that it is a project of the whole society, without political bias,” says the assistant president of Copai and executive secretary of the mixed parliamentary front for paternity license, Caroline Burle.
Brazilian Society of Pediatrics
On the 10th, the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP) released an open letter to Brazilian parliamentarians asking for the approval of bills that deal with the expansion of paternity leave. The entity points out that adds forces with the Coalition Parentity License (Copai), which gathers experts, civil society organizations and scientific entities in defense of active parenting as a strategy for human development and social justice.
For pediatricians, the model in force in Brazil, which grants only five days of license to the father, is in disagreement with scientific evidence dealing with the benefits of paternal presence in the early days of the baby’s life. The letter cites studies that highlight positive effects of a four -week paternity license. Among them is the possibility of supporting breastfeeding and contributing to the neuro-cognitive development of babies. “Ensuring the beginning of life with presence, affection and support is a shared responsibility,” says the letter.
The document also points out that several countries already adopt shared parental license models, which allow the flexible division of care time between mothers and fathers. “Paternity leave is not luxury. It is careful, health, development. And, above all, it is a right of children and families who want to start life with more affection, support and dignity,” concludes SBP.
