The Ministerial Committee for Legislation has voted in favor of supporting MK Tamar Zandberg's (Meretz) bill aimed at creating "paternity leave" - eight days of leave for a father following the birth of a child. This would be in addition to leave granted to the mother.
Paternity leave would consist of three paid days and five days of sick leave at the employer's expense. Zandberg says that it is intended to deal with today's reality in which couples would be able to share the time off. She compares it to the current situation in which the father is forced to return to work the day after the birth and young mothers are left to deal with the infants alone.