THE government’s equality watchdog is to tell ministers this week that it wants men to be entitled to as much paid time off work as women to look after babies.

The Equal Opportunities Commission will publish research that shows more than half of mothers now believe men are just as good at bringing up babies as women.

Jenny Watson, acting chairwoman, said the “seismic shift” in parenting attitudes had to be reflected in the Work and Families Bill, due to be published in 10 days.

The changes would give men as much as six months of paid leave even if their wives or partners were unemployed. The proposal will put pressure on the government to devise more radical plans.

The commission dismisses the current system — under which women have six months’ paid maternity leave and men only two weeks — as “social engineering” by the state.

It wants Alan Johnson, the trade and industry secretary, to introduce a system in which families will have complete control over how to share paid parenting leave between parents.

Fathers would be entitled to up to six months’ paid leave from 2009, the same as women. The commission recommends that the weekly payment rise from £106 to £200.

The government has already decided that paid maternity leave for women will double from six months to a year in 2009.

Under the more radical proposals fathers would be entitled to share that money and time off with the baby’s mother, whether or not the couple are married.

Watson argues that the government has failed to keep pace with changes in social attitudes. “We want to make sure that the government understands that there has been a seismic shift in terms of how fathers want to be involved with their children,” she said.

“Parents want to choose who stays at home with the baby. Mothers and fathers are confident in each other’s ability to care.”

The research, to be published on Wednesday, shows that most new mothers no longer think of parenting as just a “mum’s” job: 52% believe that fathers are naturally as good at caring as mothers.

Among young mothers, three out of four said they were happy for their husband to look after the children. The study shows that 77% of new mothers feel their partners are as confident as they are at caring for their children.

The research was based on an NOP poll of 920 mothers of babies aged 4-16 months which found that nearly eight out of 10 mothers and fathers supported transferable maternity leave, even though it meant losing out on their own time off. However, in 2003-4, the first year in which men were entitled to a fortnight’s paid leave, only one-fifth of eligible men took it.

The commission will also tell ministers this week that Britain has the most unequal parenting arrangements in Europe.

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