NEW YORK — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says setting aside parental leave that can only be taken by fathers may be a way of improving the flexibility available to young families.
The prime minister is explaining his thoughts on gender equality before a clearly approving audience at the United Nations.
He says he and his government are working to make Parliament more family friendly, saying it's time to update an institution that he says was designed for old, white guys.
Parliamentary travel requirements and sitting hours can be barriers to women with young children, but significant changes can be made, he says.
And he says there are ways to make businesses and organizations more open to equality, if only by forcing them to report explicitly on the gender balance in their work forces and boardrooms.
The Harper government's last budget in 2015, included a proposal to change the business corporations act to require companies to either put a gender equality policy in place or explain publicly why they don't have one.
