This week the Nobel Prize in economics went to Claudia Golden for her research exploring women's participation in the labour market.

And we're asking, is better parental leave the fix to the gender pay gap?

Hello, I'm Jeff Lloyd, and this is Reasons Revisited. It's a weekly fun-sized reason to be cheerful.

We dig back into our five-year audio archive and brief you on a big idea that's having a moment.

In this episode we're talking about parental leave and how introducing better policies especially for fathers could

effectively reduce the gender pay gap. Here in the UK mothers receive six weeks of

pay at 90% of their salary after giving birth.

Fathers or partners only receive two weeks by of their

salary after giving birth. Fathers or partners only received two weeks by law and they paid

172 pounds 48 per week which is the equivalent of less than half of the

national living wage. The introduction of shared parental leave in 2015 in the UK

was a step in the right direction, recognizing that the care of a child should be

shared between parents. However, the mother has to make the choice about whether they want to transfer leave to their partner,

rather than it being ring-fenced, use it or lose it, paternity leave.

And take-up of shared parental leave has been low.

Only 1% of mothers and 5% of fathers have taken it up, and those that

do a predominantly older work for larger organisations and earn more money.

But what would a better version of parental leave look like?

And could it reduce the gender pay gap and other work related disparities?

Here's the current picture.

The UK has the least generous parental leave rights in Europe.

While women can take up to 52 weeks away from work if they want to,

...