On January 9th during our class time, Geoffrey Ochola came in to talk with us about what pappaperm is and his own experience. We learned that pappaperm is the name for the parental leave program in Norway that allows all parents, regardless of gender, to have paid time off from work to spend critical time with their newborn children. The program allows both parents to have 15 weeks of paid time off from work each. Besides these 15 weeks off for each parent, parents of newborn children are also given 16 weeks of paid parental leave that they can then distribute however they choose between the two of them. There is also an option for parents to take an extra 10 weeks of paid parental leave, but they then only earn 80% of their salary for their entire time off. All in all, parents are allowed a total of 46 weeks of 100% paid parental leave or 56 weeks of 80% paid leave.
Geoffrey spoke about his time in pappaperm and how he enjoyed having that time because it gave him the time and opportunity to create and strengthen his bond with his daughter. He also talked about the flexibility of their workplaces that allowed him and his partner to take their paternal leave without feeling extra work-related stress or tension. Geoffrey shared about his pappaperm time, he was happy to answer any questions we had about pappaperm. Many of our readings about parental leave also emphasize the importance and benefits of pappaperm on the parent, the child, and the family unit as a whole. One of the main benefits of pappaperm is that it provides paid parental leave for diverse parents such as LGBTQ+ parents, single parents, and parents who choose to adopt. Pappaperm also allows parents to experience roles as both the caretaker and breadwinner, two roles that fall into traditional gender stereotypes. Many fathers reflected on how they were able to understand and appreciate how much work their partner does while at home doing both household chores and taking care of their children.