Paternity leave and the suspension of the biological mother's employment contract. New perspective on the gender division of roles in childcare

Commentary on Supreme Court Judgment 98/2021, of January 27, and its setting in relation to Constitutional Court Judgment 111/2018, of October 17

Abstract

Royal Decree-Law 6/2019, of March 1, has meant a turning point in the regulation of the suspension of the work contract of the parent other than the mother. The decree, that brings the duration of such leave equal to that of the mother, represents, without any doubt, an advance in the perspective of the said right, by reviewing the traditional scenery of childcare rather assigned to the mother on the basis of gender roles, with a discriminatory tendency.