However, the most recent research suggests that gender norms may not be the only thing deterring men from taking the leave. Under the scheme, both parents get a maximum of £140.98 a week – and the study’s authors say that this may not be enough of a financial incentive for new parents to split childcare duties.

“This step down in income could be a deterrent against claiming, as many new parents may find they need at least one or both of their full salaries,” says the study.

In a recent letter to the Financial Times, a man with a four-month-old baby said that the allowance allocated to parents under the scheme was “a laughably low alternative to working hard in order to meet my newly enlarged family’s needs.

“I would genuinely love to spend more time with my daughter but this scheme is simply not fit for purpose,” wrote Krzysztof Lasocki, from Kingston-Upon-Thames.

So we’re grappling with two thorny issues here; we don’t just have to dismantle archaic ideas about who should look after children, we also have to campaign for a shared parental leave scheme that doesn’t make couples feel like they are being financially penalised at a time when they really can’t afford it.

To paraphrase Coldplay: nobody said achieving gender-equal parenting would be easy. But does it really have to be this hard?

Images: Tanja Heffner / Rex Features / Priscilla du Preez

This is why hardly any men are taking shared parental leave in the UK