Paternity benefits at the Granada Bar Association double in the last five years

The Granada Bar Association launched in 2019 the paternity benefits, extending to male lawyers the aid from which female lawyers have already benefited since 2008. After five years since its implementation, almost half of the benefits to parents granted by the corporation are already for fathers, highlighting the increasing gender equality in the Granada legal profession.

Specifically, in the last five years, the Bar Association has registered 140 benefits, of which 74 (53%) have been for female lawyers, while the remaining 66 (47%) benefited male colleagues, a percentage very similar to the gender distribution of the collegiate census, with 42% of women compared to 58% of men. “These aids were instituted by the Governing Board to facilitate the reconciliation of family and work life of the census and promote gender equality, so we are very pleased to see how that equality is settled in our professional group,” says the dean of the Lawyers of Granada, Leandro Cabrera.

In addition, if the evolution of paternity benefits is analyzed, an upward trend of the same is noticed. Thus, while in 2019, 9 benefits were granted to fathers, in 2023 the figure rose to 19, i.e., more than double. Even in the last two years, paternity benefits outnumbered maternity benefits.

Almost 500 beneficiaries since their introduction

Since their initial creation, parental benefits have benefited a total of 430 members and have involved a financial investment of more than 85,000 euros by the Association. This means that, on average, 27 members of Granada’s legal profession have had access to this aid each year, which amounts to an annual average of 5,400 euros.

It is worth remembering that these aids consist of the exemption of the monthly collegiate fee to the practicing members who have been mothers/fathers and other assimilated assumptions during the four months following the date of birth or assimilated assumption, being able to be compatible in the case that both parents are collegiate and adding to the rest of benefits to which the professionals are entitled in these cases. To access them, the interested parties only have to send their request to the Secretary’s Office of the Association by e-mail, attaching certification of the Civil Registry or copy of the Family Book within two months from the date of birth or assimilated assumption.