A new international study highlights how unequal parental leave remains in India compared with other major economies. The findings show that Indian mothers typically take 130 working days of leave—about 26 weeks—while fathers take just 7 days. This makes the gap 18.6 times wider, second only to the UK, where the difference is 19.5 times.
The analysis, based on nearly 5,000 parents across 12 countries, reveals that Indian fathers take the shortest leave of all nations studied. In comparison, fathers in the US and Canada take around 28 days, while those in Sweden and Spain average more than two months. The limited leave for Indian fathers is not mandated by law but left to employer discretion, which explains the sharp disparity.
For mothers, the 130 days of leave align with the legal minimum under the Maternity Benefit Act. Nearly all Indian mothers—98.7 per cent—take their leave in one continuous block, the highest proportion among the countries surveyed. Fathers, by contrast, are more likely to split their leave into smaller segments.
The study also found that 25 per cent of Indian mothers leave their jobs within six months of returning from parental leave, compared with 20 per cent of fathers. While this is slightly below the global average, it still reflects the persistent challenge of balancing caregiving with career continuity.
The data, drawn from full?time employees on Deel’s platform, underscores how parental leave policies on paper do not always translate into equal practice. For India, the numbers highlight both the progress of maternity protections and the absence of structured paternity leave, leaving mothers to carry most of the responsibility and widening the gender gap in the workplace.
