On Parental Leave, Men Have It Easier

According to Mr. Rhoads, 26 percent of all colleges and universities offer paid parental leave beyond the six weeks of maternity leave. [...]writes Mr. Rhoads, extending leave to both men and women may be unwise -- particularly if male faculty members use their leaves to do something other than child care. (Female professors in the survey complained that some men used leave time to catch up on their research and writing.) "If men should begin to take leave in much larger numbers," but fail to take on a larger share of child care, writes Mr. Rhoads, "far from leveling the playing field, gender-neutral postbirth leaves will tilt the field further in favor of men." *** At least two colleges in Massachusetts have stopped offering benefits to their employees' same-sex domestic partners since a law went into effect this year that permits gay and lesbian couples in the state to marry.