Over at the The Times, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg suggests the recession is an opportunity to shake off our preconceptions about men’s and women’s roles. Here’s an excerpt:

As this recession bears down on thousands of communities and families we must again be open to reinventing ourselves. Many men will be forced to let go of their earlier identities and try something new – like the unemployed car worker in the West Midlands who explained on Newsnight last week that he was retraining to become a social worker. And many women may become the only family breadwinner for the first time. For many couples this will be unsettling and deeply disruptive to the settled patterns of life, work and marriage. A new flexibility in which men and women are supported in reinventing themselves will be vital in helping many thousands of families through this recession. …

Rigidity in how parental leave is structured must change too. Mothers can take up to a year, fathers only two weeks. It is a special time, which I am about to experience myself with the birth of our third child, and I will savour every second. But this split is out of step with the reality of many modern families, and discourages fathers from making a commitment to the care of their own children. Yet countless fathers would like to be more involved with their sons and daughters, and there is overwhelming evidence that this can have a lasting effect on the educational and emotional development of children, especially young boys. The present rules make it almost impossible for young mothers to go back to work early, even if their husbands and partners are ready to stay at home

It is high time we moved into line with other European countries where interchangeable parental leave has long been the norm. At a time of acute national economic turmoil, we all need to innovate to create new opportunities as old ones disappear.

You can read the article in full by clicking here.