A special task force in the Prime Minister's Office is examining the feasibility of paid paternity leave for men for a period of 2-4 weeks.
The leave for fathers would be in addition to, not instead of, maternity leave, according to the parameters of the task force.
The annual hit to the national budget for one week of paid paternity leave is estimated at around NIS 500 million ($135.7 million), and between NIS 1 billion ($271.6 million) for two weeks leave and NIS 2 billion ($543.2 million) for four weeks of paternity leave.
Because the Knesset is currently dispersed, any legislation on the matter cannot be pursued until after the election on April 9.
Some 190,000 babies were born in 2018, while that number is expected to rise to 200,000 in 2019.
Today, a woman who has worked five years for the same employer is eligible to receive additional unpaid vacation days in addition to her paid maternity leave. A woman who has worked for over a year for the same employer or at the same job has the right to 26 weeks of maternity leave – 11 of which are unpaid and 15 are paid.
Michal Gera Margaliot, the managing director of the Israel Women's Network, and Yaara Mann, the director of the Feminist Employment Market at the IWN, said in a joint statement: "Paternity leave for fathers is vital to increasing equality between men and women in the market place and at home."
