There was a moment when it seemed like men—at least some of them—had started openly talking about the value of parental leave. 

Several years ago, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian wrote about taking four months of paternity leave here in Fast Company. He argued it was crucial that men not only had access to paternity leave, but were empowered to take it. 

“I wanted to set an example for all of our hundreds of employees—not just the men, but especially them,” Ohanian wrote of his decision to go on leave. “I believe it starts at the top, not only with implementing paid family leave policies for moms and dads but also through leading by example.” Even Mark Zuckerberg took two months of parental leave after each of his daughters were born in 2015 and 2017.

At tech companies like Reddit and Meta, generous leave policies have now become a way to help attract and retain talent. But despite the growing awareness that it’s important for men to take leave, the data on how many men actually do so seemed stagnant. 

For years, there had been little change in the share of men who took leave, and while men often took some parental leave, it was quite minimal and often cobbled together through vacation days or sick days or unpaid time off. 

“In more recent times, most men are taking some time off when their child is born,” says Richard Petts, a sociology professor at Ball State University. “But it’s been short, typically less than a week—being there in the hospital when their child is born.

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