It's working for Josh Levs
Atlanta, GA
3 children
“As a journalist I became fascinated, what is it about my situation that is galvanizing? Everyone who wants equality is truly in this together. We’ve got these backward structures in place pushing women to stay home and men to stay at work.”
A Journalist Finds Himself As the Main Story On Paternity Leave
Josh Levs knows how to make big change happen. He had been covering fatherhood for CNN when the tables turned, as he described it, and he became the story.
“My wife and I had two sons, we were preg with the 3rd kid, I needed to be home,” he explained. “Time Warner [CNN’s parent company] had this really strange policy, they would provide 10 paid weeks for anyone who was a parent, except the man who impregnated the mother,” he said.
Josh had assumed it was an oversight, and that Time Warner would make the correction. Months went by without an answer, and Josh found himself at home, with his newborn, and learned he needed to report back to work, or risk going unpaid.
So Josh took action. “I talked to my attorney about what my options were. This was gender discrimination, so we took a complaint to the EEOC. Work is not allowed to retaliate against you for filing a complaint, but they might anyway.”
Time Warner ended up revolutionizing its policy: dads now get six paid weeks parental leave, though it was not retroactive. Josh said the dads at Time Warner who have been able to take advantage of the time off thank him all the time for getting the opportunity to stay home with their infants.
But the outpouring of reaction from men and women across the board motivated him to do more.
“As a journalist I became fascinated, what is it about my situation that is galvanizing? Everyone who wants equality is truly in this together. We’ve got these backward structures in place pushing women to stay home and men to stay at work.”
Josh took his show on the road, with the book, “All In” which he’s spoken to various media outlets about. He’s taken his findings to Capitol Hill, meeting with staff on both sides of the aisle, and with groups like the National Partnership for Women, which accompanied him on Capitol Hill for the visits.
“People don’t realize the truth about dads, how involved we are, how connected we are,” he said. “I know we can create change.”