Single Parents Deserve Same Paid Leave as Couples, Spanish Court Rules

Single parenthood comes with its own challenges but finding the time and resources to love and nurture a baby during those crucial early months shouldn’t be one of them.

In a landmark decision, a court in Murcia, a small region in southeastern Spain, has ruled that paid parental leave for single parents must match the length of leave granted to couples. The decision ensures solo parents have the same time, means and opportunity to care for their children as those in two-parent households.

The case was brought forward by Silvia Pardo Moreno, a single mother who noticed her daughter was the only child in daycare at 16 weeks, as couples were guaranteed a total of 32 weeks of parental leave. She argued that her child deserved the same time to grow and bond with a parent as other children and that she, as a single parent, should receive equal paid leave to make it happen. While a local court initially ruled against Pardo, she persisted, appealing to the larger Murcia court which ruled in her favor.

Under this decision, single parents can now claim the full amount of paid leave allocated to both parents in a couple — six weeks of mandatory leave to be taken together plus an additional 10 weeks for each parent. For solo parents, that adds up to 32 weeks of paid leave.

The decision serves as an important precedent that other single parents in Spain can use to seek similar benefits. It also builds on a recent nationwide decision barring discrimination against children born into single-parent families. “The duration and intensity of the need for care and attention of a newborn is the same regardless of the family model into which they were born,” the constitutional court noted in its decision, which was cited by the Murcia court.

These rulings provide significant protections for the 1.9 million single-parent households in Spain, which make up 1 in 10 families, according to government data. Of these, the vast majority (81%) are single-mother households — mothers who, amid high childcare costs, must increasingly choose between starting a family and staying in the workforce.

Spain’s progressive stance aligns it with other European countries like Finland, Germany and Sweden, where paid parental leave is equitable across sex and family structures. This stands in stark contrast to the United States, which remains one of the only high-income nations in the world without a federal paid parental leave policy. US advocates for paid parental leave point to these developments in Spain and other countries as a growing call for policy change.

If you are passionate about advocating for federal paid parental leave, volunteering with or donating to organizations like Chamber for Mothers, Paid Leave for the US and Paid Leave for All. Every little step forward can bring America closer to a better future for parents and their babies.