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South Africa is set to be the first African country to offer shared parental leave after a high court decided that both parents have the right to time off after having or adopting a child. In the past, mothers were entitled to four months’ leave while fathers and partners were only allowed a maximum of 10 days. This ruling will give the parents a choice on how they divide four months parental leave between each parent. Wessel van den Berg, who runs a campaign called MenCare says: "It's a major leap forward". He says, ideally, both parents would decide together to take half the available leave each but that women’s rights groups are calling for a proportion of non-transferable leave to be added to what's on offer.

Photo shows a family playing with their children at a playground in Guguletu, a township about ten miles outside Cape Town, South Africa. Credit: Getty Images