Dean Wharewera jumped at the chance to be a stay-at-home dad when his employer changed its parental leave policy last year. In October, Lion NZ extended its 12 weeks’ paid parental leave to all employees regardless of gender or parenting role, one of few big New Zealand companies whose leave benefits both men and women. Wharewera’s partner, Gina Huggard, was keen to get back into paid work having spent years at home with their children, so when the policy changed it was perfect timing for them both. “We’d been talking about it for some time but obviously being able to do it with the support fr…