Knowledge and Attitude of Male Employees towards Paternity Leave in Iringa Municipality, Tanzania

This study was conducted in Iringa Municipality with the aims of verifying the knowledge and attitudes of male employees towards paternity leave. A cross-sectional research design and multistage sampling technique was used. The sample was comprised of 150 male employees from private and public sectors. Respondents’ awareness on paternity leave were captured by using open and closed ended questions while the attitude of male employees towards paternity leave was captured by using a five point Likert Scale. Qualitative and quantitative data were analysed by using content analysis and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) computer software respectively. The findings show that majority of male’s employees were not aware of paternity leave in the study area. Chi-square test analysis showed that male’s paternity leave awareness was not influenced by employee’s occupations (p ≤ 0.05). The study also identified that majority of male’s employees who were aware of paid paternity leave did not applied for the leave. Furthermore, the study revealed that male employees had unfavourable attitude towards paternity leave. The study recommends worker’s trade unions to increase efforts in educating their members about paternity leave and its associated benefits in order to change male employees’ negative attitude towards paternity leave.