Earlier this week Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal announced he is all set to take paternity leave as he welcomed his second child. But Twitter made it explicitly clear that Agrawal would be taking less than 20 days of mandatory paternity leave.
Twitter CEO’s decision was widely hailed by netzines on Twitter and in general. Many celebrities hailing from the corporate and other field hailed Agrawal’s decision. Praising Agarwal’s decision as bold and the one that will help in overcoming the taboo of male employees taking a paternity leave.
Reddit’s co-founder Alexis Ohanian and India’s very own Anushka Sharma were among the prominent celebrities who praised Twitter CEO.
Ohanian suggested to Agrawal on Twitter that he should split his leave and completely use Twitter’s allotted 20 days paternity leave.
It much be noted that Ohanian is a great supporter of male employees taking paternity leave. The Reddit CEO, who is also the husband of Tennis star Serena Williams, himself took a long paternity to take care of his new born child in 2017.
Sharma, on other hand, took to her Instagram platform to praise Agarwal’s decision to go for a paternity.
She shared a screenshot depicting how netzines across the board were applauding Agarwal. Her Instagram story also had a interesting caption that said “about time this is normalized”
Sharma obviously could easily relate to Agarwal’s decision as her husband and India’s Ex Capitan Virat Kohli took paternity leave last year to welcome their daughter Vamika. Back then, Kohli was heavily criticized by certain section of netizens for leaving the Australian tour midway.
Kohli’s castigation and public criticism is a reminder that public taboo of male employees taking paternity leave is still highly prevalent.
Even several surveys over the years have proven that male employees are still not very comfortable taking week long paternity leave.
Male employees hesitancy in leveraging the paternity leave may be largely due to strong public perception that a mother is enough to take care of the new born while males need to work hard to make a living for the new born child.
Agrawal’s decision to go for paternity may not wash away this stigma completely. Nonetheless, his decision is a right step in the right direction.