Humza Yousaf's paternity leave is all very well but many fathers are struggling to do their bit – Alastair GJ Stewart

Working dads are expected to support their partner, but have only a two-week statutory leave period

The First Minister's announcement that he would take paternity leave “to be absolutely hands-on as a father and to be as supportive a husband as I possibly can be” felt unambitious and daringly hypocritical in a general election year.

His news followed Energy Secretary Màiri McAllan, who has announced she will take maternity leave this summer. McAllan said: “I hope my example can show to all women and girls – and to Scotland generally – that starting a family should never be a barrier to holding senior positions." Yousaf's statements made his paternity leave sound elective and grandstanding compared to the realities facing female colleagues: “My first job and first priority is not just being First Minister.”

The fundamental biological reality of having children and the financial, career, and physical implications for women as primary caregivers are still among the most significant disparities in modern Scotland. The reality is that most working fathers have a massive challenge navigating paternity leave. They are expected to support their partner, but there is only a two-week statutory leave period to assist in doing so.

Fathers could use more paternity leave to help look after their babies (Picture: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images)

Missed opportunity

Yousaf missed an opportunity to double down on former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's 2019 pledge to give new parents extra leave to look after their babies through 12 weeks of "daddy leave". The general election manifesto commitment promised "increased shared parental leave from 52 to 64 weeks, with the additional 12 weeks to be the minimum taken by the father in order to encourage an increase in shared parental leave”.

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Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said that maternity pay is "another example of the inadequacy of UK Government support" and that some of the Scottish Government's plans had been "constrained by the current constitutional set-up". Nevertheless, Stuart McDonald MP, the party's treasurer, has been one of the most effective SNP members at Westminster. His campaign for life-changing new rights for the parents of premature babies succeeded, with the UK Parliament passing his Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act.

The Scottish Government's independence white paper on social security, released at the end of last year, only mentioned maternity leave on the index pages (and did not mention paternity at all). The fixation on independence keeps the SNP from producing blueprints to enact meaningful, vote-winning change as families feel the financial strain of the cost-of-living crisis.