This is a first in France, claims the city of Lyon. The city of Lyon announced this Friday that it would introduce ten weeks of paternity leave for its agents, the equivalent of maternity leave. This measure must be voted on at the next municipal council meeting on December 21.
Currently, the legal framework is set at four weeks of leave. This will involve offering agents “an authorization of 30 additional working days”. “We wanted to act resolutely in favor of gender equality, by allowing fathers to fully invest in the pivotal period of childcare, during which many things are at stake in terms of family organization, distribution domestic tasks and parent-child relationships,” indicates Laurent Bosetti, Deputy Mayor of Lyon responsible for the Promotion of public services.
In addition to extending paternity leave, the city of Lyon also proposes to establish menstrual leave (in cases of painful periods) of two working days per month and leave linked to an interruption (medical, voluntary or natural) of pregnancy of two working days. A system which is already being tested by the metropolis of Lyon.