A survey by the Equal Opportunities Commission of 1,200 fathers of 3 to 15-month-old children disclosed that almost 8 in 10 would be happy to stay at home and look after their baby. Nine in ten said that they felt as confident as their partner when caring for their child.

In a bold attempt to move the debate on parental leave on to a more challenging level, the commission said that if men were expected to take a more active part in bringing up their children, they should be able to become fully involved from the moment of birth.

New fathers should have a “daddy month” of four weeks’ paternity leave, paid at £200 a week, campaigners said yesterday. The commission, which fights for equal rights for men as well as women, said that there was considerable support for such reforms.

More than half of fathers surveyed by the commission said that they wanted the statutory entitlement of two weeks’ paternity leave extended. Of those, 67 per cent said that they would like the time increased to four weeks, giving all new fathers a whole “daddy month” to get to know their child.

The findings represent a big shift in attitudes. Two decades ago the annual British Social Attitudes Survey found that more than half of fathers (52 per cent) believed that a father’s job was to be the breadwinner, while the mother’s place was in the home. Today that figure has shrunk to 20 per cent.

Jenny Watson, the acting chairwoman of the commission, said that the findings showed just how much men’s attitudes had shifted within the space of a generation.

“All the evidence shows that fathers today are different from their own fathers and grandfathers. Policymakers need to keep up. Dads no longer see themselves solely as the breadwinner. They want to spend more time at home, actively sharing the responsibility of caring for their baby,” she said.

Ms Watson said that government proposals to allow working mothers to transfer part of their maternity leave to their partners would not go far enough. Instead she called for the Government to introduce “shared” parental leave rights in the second six months after a baby’s birth, giving both parents an equal chance of a work break.

The commission called for statutory paternity pay to be increased from £106 a week to £200. It also wants additional leave rights for fathers whose partners were not working before the birth and therefore are not entitled to maternity leave.

Duncan Fisher, the chief executive of the charity Fathers Direct, said that it was vital for long-term child welfare that new fathers be closely involved with their newborns.

“Our leave system will continue to be antiquated and out of step with modern families unless the Government revises its plans by creating extended, well-paid paternity leave and introduces shared parental leave rather than transferable maternity leave,” he said.

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