Dad's Army, a new study from the Work Foundation, published this week, exposes this corporate culture and the damage it does to families and the economy. It quotes one top male executive from a merchant bank cynically discussing a generous paternity leave scheme: "We're going to use it to weed out the losers." Not surprisingly, the study finds, a scheme offering five days paternity leave at another bank had not been taken up by a single employee. A leading UK headhunter is quoted as saying that whereas firms can be fairly accommodating to women with childcare responsibilities, it would be the "kiss of death" for a man to say he needed flexibility for this reason.

The result of all this hypocrisy is "stealth parenting" by fathers with any ambitions at work. They lie about "breakfast meetings" when they take their children to school and "client appointments" when they sneak out to look after a sick child.
—Jack O'Sullivan," Extinction can't come too soon for these dinosaurs," The Times, October 23, 2002

Men are resorting to 'stealth parenting' — spending more time with their children, but inventing business meetings to cover absences from the office — for fear that admitting to childcare responsibilities damages their careers.
—Gaby Hinsliff, "New dads get raw deal from bosses," The Observer, October 20, 2002