Want equality? Make new dads stay home

Mandatory paternity leave would help close the wage gap and strengthen family bonds

When Jeremy Doyle and his wife had a baby boy last year, he took 12 weeks of paternity leave. Not many new dads take off that much time. But that wasn't what made the San Francisco executive's experience so unusual. This is: His paternity leave was mandatory.
 
Mr. Doyle's employer, Boston-based people analytics firm Humanyze, is among the first not only to give men and women equal lengths of paid parental leave but to insist that men take it. The firm instituted the policy in 2016 because most men don't take leave even when it's offered, for fear that