(Bloomberg) — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took paternity leave and, while he nested, the critics feasted.

“Loser” and “a little weird”” were among the more printable reactions after he and his husband, Chasten, took their twins home. The onslaught neatly encapsulated the stigma that’s kept some working fathers from taking advantage of such family policies, despite the social and economic benefits.

“Isn’t that supposed to be for the person who gave birth?” commentator and television host Joe Rogan asked during his Tuesday podcast, before declaring that it was strange for parents to get maternity and paternity leave simultaneously. 

Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir Technologies (NYSE:) Inc. and a prolific venture capitalist, piled on, tweeting Wednesday that any prominent man who takes six months off to care for his child is “a loser.” 

In an interview with ABC News, Buttigieg said that the criticism was constructive because it opened up a dialogue. 

“We’re almost the only country left in the world that doesn’t have some kind of policy … and when parents take that parental leave, they need to be supported,” he said. “If there’s this idea that maybe men have access to paternity leave but it’s frowned on if they actually use it … that carries with it this assumption that the woman’s going to do all the work.”

The conversation over men’s familial roles is unfolding as Democrats in Congress abandon a proposal for paid family leave in order to get President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion economic plan over the line. Republicans are united in opposition to the plan, and two moderate Democratic senators, Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema, have raised doubts about framework’s overall cost. The U.S. is one of seven countries in the world that don’t mandate paid leave for new mothers.

This pandemic placed the struggle of parents who work at home front and center. A child-care shortage has kept women in particular from rejoining the workforce and is dragging on job growth. Between February 2020 and February 2021, more than 2.3 million women left the workforce, bringing their participation rate to 57% — lower than at any time since 1988, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

According to the agency, 23% of employees are entitled to paid family leave as of March. Less than 20% of men in the U.S. get any amount of employer-provided paid paternity leave. 

While more men are taking advantage of parental leave when it’s available, the criticism that erupted over Buttigieg is a reminder that a stigma still exists. Only 62% of men take the full amount of leave for which they are eligible compared with 93% of women, according to a 2019 study by the Boston College Center for Work and Family. Many men use only a fraction of the leave available. 

Is paid paternity leave possible?

While many countries provide paid leave for both parents after the birth of a child, the U.S. doesn’t, so it varies by state. 

Nine states plus the District of Columbia have paid family-leave programs ranging from six to 12 weeks off, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Three states in those nine states are yet to have their programs implemented. Although employers must comply with minimum standards, these states can offer greater benefits. Federal workers can get up to 12 weeks’ paid leave.

Most states have employers deciding how much time off they give their workers. That’s led to inequities, with mostly better-compensated workers getting paid time off.

Another option is unpaid leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees both men and women 12 weeks of unpaid leave, but eligibility requirements are strict. For an employer employing 50 or more people, the employee must have worked at most 1,250 hours in the previous year. As much as 40% of the U.S. workforce doesn’t qualify for FMLA protections for parental, family caregiving or medical needs, according to a February 2020 report from the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Some companies offered more family leave during the pandemic. A survey of 2,504 human-resources professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 44% of respondents said their companies had paid paternity leave in 2020, up from 21% in 2016. 

Is there a stigma surrounding paternity leave

Some men who have access to paid leave say they’re reluctant to take it. Fearing that they will lose their good name, be disadvantaged for promotion and reduce their earning potential, some men fear taking paid leave. 

A 2016 survey by Deloitte found that men were far more likely to indicate they didn’t plan to use paid parental leave, with one in three saying their jobs could be in jeopardy. Men who take paternity leave tend to lose status in the workplace, with employers questioning their commitments to their jobs if they take too much time off, according to research by Willamette University law professor Keith Cunningham-Parmeter.

Leave decisions are also influenced by money. Men were more likely take longer leaves if their full salaries weren’t reduced, according to a 2019 paper from the Boston College Center for Work & Family.  A study by the center in 2014 found that five out of six employed fathers said they wouldn’t take paternity leave unless at least 70% of their salary was paid.

What are the social and economic impacts of paternity leave? 

It’s a positive for the family as a whole. Longer leaves are associated with increased engagement and bonding, which leads to improved health and development outcomes for children, according to a Department of Labor brief.

Mothers can also take paid leave when their fathers are absent. This helps to increase labor-force participation as well as wages. States with paid-leave policies found a 20% reduction in the number of women leaving jobs in the first year after giving birth — and up to a 50% reduction after five years — according to a 2019 study by the nonprofit Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The paper analyzed labor-market participation among women in California and New Jersey before and after each state launched a paid family and medical leave system.That study also found that over the long term, paid family leave nearly closed the gap in workforce participation between mothers with young children and those without. For women without access, nearly 30% dropped out of the workforce within a year after giving birth and one in five didn’t return for more than a decade.

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