scholarly journals Individual Parental Leave for Fathers: Promoting Gender Equality in Norway

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-163
Author(s):  
Elin Kvande
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Strong Incentive ◽  
Design Characteristics ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Regulatory Measure

AbstractThis chapter takes as its point of departure the design elements of the Norwegian parental leave system for fathers and examines how it works as a regulatory measure to promote equality in care work. The findings show that the design of the father’s quota as a statutory, earmarked, and non-transferrable right for fathers promotes the fathers’ use of leave and hence equality. The earmarking, and the fact that it cannot be transferred to the mother, renders it unnecessary for fathers to negotiate with the mother about this leave. The father’s quota is also an important bargaining chip in relation to working life for having time off for doing care-work. These findings support other research on fathers’ use of leave which have shown that these design characteristics of father’s quota represents a strong incentive for greater involvement in caregiving on the part of fathers.

Designing parental leave for fathers – promoting gender equality in working life

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 465-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elin Kvande ◽  
Berit Brandth
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Leave Taking ◽  
Staying At Home ◽  
The Welfare State ◽  
The Ideal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Norwegian parental leave policy for fathers, the father’s quota, which has reached a mature age of 26 years, asking how gender equality has been affected in working life. Design/methodology/approach Based on interviews with 28 fathers who have used the father’s quota, the paper analyzes the connection between leave design, its use and impacts by using the design elements of individualization, generosity and non-transferability. Findings Findings show that in granting fathers an individual, earmarked and non-transferable right, the welfare state has contributed to turning leave taking into a norm for modern fathering. The generosity in terms of length and full wage compensation strengthens it as a right in working life. Fathers being paid their full wages for staying at home taking care of their child emphasize the dual-carer norm. The analyses show that the collision between fatherhood and the ideal of the unencumbered employee has weakened in many types of organizations. Originality/value The paper addresses the request put forward by Lewis and Stumbitz (2017) and Moss and Deven (2015) where they state that there has been little research addressing how parental leave is implemented in working life.

Workplace Support of Fathers’ Parental Leave Use

2020 ◽  
pp. 169-182
Author(s):  
Berit Brandth ◽  
Elin Kvande
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Work Organizations ◽  
Family Research ◽  
Workplace Support ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Work Family

This article highlights the importance of social policy and working life contexts for employed fathers’ use of parental leave. It directs attention towards the Norwegian model, which is known for its gender equality aims and welfare-state support to families, but which is also active in the regulation of working life. Based on interviews with fathers who have used the father’s quota, findings run counter to work-family research where gendered assumptions in work organizations are found to prevent active fathering. The interviewed fathers report positive attitudes and supportive practices among employers. Fathers’ stories show that their use of the leave is subject to cooperation and compromising processes at the workplace level that research on fatherhood and organizations have hardly addressed.

Fathers’ Sense of Entitlement to Earmarked and Shared Parental Leave

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Berit Brandth ◽  
Elin Kvande
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Sense Of Entitlement ◽  
The Individual

In most countries, parental leave systems consist of several parts with different lengths for fathers and/or mothers. We compare fathers’ sense of entitlement to two parts of the Norwegian leave policy available to them, namely the individual, non-transferable father’s quota and the shared parental leave. The objective is to gain knowledge of the rationale for fathers’ different take-ups of the two types of leave. Analysis of interviews with 22 fathers shows culturally divergent understandings of the two types of leave among fathers. Using the concept of ‘entitlement’ as theoretical lens, we find that fathers feel entitled to the father’s quota based on gender equality norms in working life and the wider society. Fathers do to a much smaller degree feel entitled to the shared parental leave, which is culturally understood as mothers’ entitlement. This understanding is, however, challenged by some fathers’ claim to the shared leave based on their being competent parents.

Designing Parental Leave Policy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berit Brandth ◽  
Elin Kvande
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Research Publications ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Design Characteristics

Many of the Nordic countries have designed parental leave policies in ways that can promote participation of fathers in child care. Norway was the first country to introduce a father-specific leave quota in 1993. This quota is non-transferable and generously paid, and Norway has functioned as a sort of laboratory for testing such radical policies. This book is a collection of research publications from three studies conducted at various stages since the introduction of the quota. It looks at its various design characteristics and possible consequences such as take-up, framing of the leave, what fathers do when on leave, how they develop as caregivers and competent parents, how working life relates to male employees with care obligations in terms of parental leave, how fathers adapt their leave to work and how immigrant fathers relate to the laws and expectations directed to fathers in Norway. Although the chapters are based on different qualitative studies, they show changes in employed men’s fathering practices over the years and how the parental leave design may have contributed to this change.

Fathers’ sense of entitlement to ear-marked and shared parental leave

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1154-1169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berit Brandth ◽  
Elin Kvande
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Sense Of Entitlement ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Individual

In most countries, parental leave systems consist of several parts with different lengths for fathers and/or mothers. This article compares fathers’ sense of entitlement to two parts of the Norwegian parental leave system that are available to them, namely the individual, non-transferable father’s quota and the shared parental leave. The objective is to gain knowledge of the rationale for fathers’ different take-up of the two types of leave. Analysis of interviews with 22 fathers finds culturally divergent understandings of the two types of leave among them. Using the concept of ‘entitlement’ as a theoretical lens, results show that fathers feel entitled to the father’s quota based on fathering- and gender equality norms in working life and the wider society. Fathers feel entitled to a much smaller degree to the shared parental leave, which is culturally understood as mothers’ entitlement. This understanding is, however, challenged by some fathers’ claim to the shared leave on the basis of their being competent parents.

scholarly journals Beyond Classical Definition: The Non-definition of Gamification

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario S. Staller ◽  
Swen Koerner
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Police Recruits ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Anchor Points ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Game Elements

AbstractGamification is regularly defined as the use of game elements in non-gaming contexts. However, discussions in the context of the pedagogical value of gamification suggest controversies on various levels. While on the one hand, the potential is seen in the design of joyful learning environments, critics point out the pedagogical dangers or the problems related to optimizing working life. It becomes apparent that the assumptions guiding action on the subject matter of gamification in educational contexts differ, which leads to different derivations for pedagogical practice—but also allows for different perspectives on initially controversial positions. Being aware of these assumptions is the claim of a reflexive pedagogy. With regard to the pedagogical use of gamifying elements and their empirical investigation, there are three main anchor points to consider from a reflexive stance: (a) the high context-specificity of the teaching undertaken and (b) the (non-)visibility of the design elements and (c) the (non-)acceptance of the gamified elements by the students. We start by providing a discussion of the definitional discourse on what is understood as gamification leading to our argument for a non-definition of gamification. We describe the potential of this non-definition of gamification and exemplify its use in a gamified concept of teaching police recruits professional reflexivity. The concept features the narrative of a potential crime that has been undertaken and that students decide for themselves if they want to engage with it.

Sweden: an extended working life policy that overlooks gender considerations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clary Krekula ◽  
Lars-Gunnar Engström ◽  
Aida Alvinius
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Close Relative ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Pension System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Security Scheme

The Swedish government policy on extended working life has since its introduction in the mid-1990s aimed to lower the costs of the public pension system and to reduce the financial burden for workers. By focusing on an idealised category of those who are "willing and able to work longer", the policy has neglected the obstacles faced by those with physically demanding jobs or with a big responsibility to care for a close relative. This mainly affects women and upholds a neoliberal view of older people. By only problematizing gender perspective on the challenges to gender equality in working life, a narrow understanding of gender equality is created which deviates from other national gender equality policies. The policy debate thereby contributes also to excluding older women and men from the Swedish gender equality project. Despite the argument that an extended working life is needed to ensure the value of pensions, this does not apply to those who are unable to continue working - they are instead expected to rely on the social security scheme.

scholarly journals THE FEMINIST AGENDA, A FALL OF HIERARCHAL REDRESS OR AN ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISHING AN ‘EQUAL’ SOCIETY GONE WRONG: AN INTERNAL CRITIQUE TO FEMINIST THEORIES

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Motshweni
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
South African ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Critical Race ◽  
Critical Race Feminism ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
Point Of Departure

The aim of this paper is to interrogate the post-1994 feminist approaches to jurisprudential discourse. This interrogation will include a consideration as to whether critical instead of ‘traditional’ feminist theories contribute in transforming or decolonising South African law and jurisprudence. It is my suggestion that the inquiry to address ‘gender equality’ before and without addressing issues of racism and racial classism simultaneously in South Africa contributes effectively to the continued marginalisation of black women. As such, my position attempts to engage with the critical feminist approaches in order to address the prejudices that traditional feminist approaches impose on black women. The focal theoretical point of departure for this interrogation is critical race feminism.2 Critical race feminism proposes a progressive initiative for addressing the inconsistencies embodied within the traditional feminist approaches and is thus suitable for the South African post-apartheid context as it may trigger ‘transformative possibilities’.3 It is my contention that in order to address the marginalisation of black women, the traditional feminist approaches (such as the dominant feminist approaches) must be done away with for they are a hindrance to legal reform, as they prejudice the very structure they claim to protect.

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