Overview

Parental leave: a leave entitlement (both paid and/or unpaid) for employees, employees’ partners, co-parents and/or caregivers experiencing:

• birth
• adoption
• fostering
• kinship care
• surrogacy
• stillbirth
• infant death of a child.

Many organisations have also placed fertility and reproductive leave in their parental leave policies (others may have this leave policy separate from parental leave and under

personal leave or medical leave). This resource addresses fertility and reproductive leave as parental leave.  

Gender: DCA recognises that gender does not exist only in binary categories and that many people do not identify or fit comfortably with these labels. We acknowledge that there are people whose experiences and identities cannot be captured by this binary language. At DCA we aim to use language that includes, and addresses marginalisation of, all genders where possible. As such, where possible, this resource uses gender-neutral language when referring to parents and caregivers. For example:

• parents or caregivers rather than mothers or fathers
• parental leave rather than maternity leave
• breastfeeding and chestfeeding rather than only referring to breastfeeding.

However, this resource sometimes uses binary language. Gendered terms are sometimes used in the legislation we are discussing or in the research that we are citing. Furthermore, binary language is sometimes necessary to convey the gendered nature and dynamics of society, and the very real effects these categories can have on people’s lives.  

Parents or caregiver: Unless citing external research or sources, we do not use “primary” and “secondary” carers as leading practice as it can:

• contribute to different access to parental leave that can encourage gendered and/or financial divisions, and
• does not acknowledge family structures and roles where it is not clear who is primary or secondary caregiver. ¹

In Australia, an increasing number of organisations are offering universal and equal parental leave for all employees regardless of gender and breaking down the distinctions between “primary and secondary” carers. This recognises the equally important role of all parents in caregiving. ²

However, we acknowledge that many employees are affected by these categories as they were formerly used in Government-funded paid parental leave policies and many workplaces and have very real effects on people’s lives, family structures and caring decisions.

For further information on DCA’s position around the language of primary and secondary carers, please see DCA’s Submission to the Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill, 2022.

Partner: When we use the word partner, it is inclusive of spouse, de facto partner, former spouse and former de-facto partner.

Co-parents: We use the language co-parents in our definition of parental leave acknowledging that people can co-parent a child without being former or current partners of the other parent. This acknowledges that employees who are co-parents can have responsibility for the care of a child or young person, irrespective of their relationship with the other parent. An example of this is NSW Government Premiers Department that recognises paid parental leave for parents with responsibility for care.

Kinship care: We include kinship care in the parental leave definition as this accommodates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural definitions, family and community structure. See Kinship from Deadly Story for more details.

Universal employer-funded parental leave:  Universal employer-funded parental leave is paid parental leave that does not differentiate between primary/secondary carer. Rather, every parent (irrespective of gender or family structure) is entitled to paid parental leave (equivalent to what “primary” carers are entitled to). This term was coined by WGEA in their 2024 Gender Equality Scorecard.