scholarly journals Gender equality and parenting-related leaves in 21 former socialist countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 495-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Dobrotić ◽  
Nada Stropnik
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
Competing Priorities

PurposeThis article explores the patterns and dynamics of parenting-related leave policy reforms in the European former socialist countries (EFSCs). It sheds light on the development pattern of their leave policies and their potential to reproduce, impede, or transform traditional gender norms in employment and care.Design/methodology/approachThe article provides a historical comparative analysis of leave policy developments in 21 EFSCs in the 1970–2018 period. It systematically explores continuity and changes in leave policy design − generosity (leave duration and benefits level) and fathers' entitlements to leaves − as well as policy concerns and gender-equality-related implications.FindingsFollowing the state-socialist commitment to gender equality, the EFSCs introduced childcare/parental leaves early. Nevertheless, they developed mother-centered leaves of equality-impeding character, in that they did not promote gender equality. The divergence of EFSCs' leave policies intensified in the period of transition from socialism to capitalism, as competing priorities and inter-related policy concerns – such as re-traditionalization, fertility incentives, gender equality, and labor market participation – influenced policy design. Leave policies of the EFSCs that joined the EU gradually transformed towards more gender-equal ones. Nonetheless, the progress has been slow, and only three countries can be classified as having equality-transforming leaves (Slovenia, Lithuania, and Romania).Originality/valueThis article extends existent comparative studies on maternity/paternity/parental leaves, exploring the region that has been overlooked by such research. It provides valuable insights into the implications of intersectional dimensions of leave design as well as competing priorities and concerns embedded in it. It points to the methodological complexity of evaluating the development of parental leave policies in a cross-country perspective.

Fathering, parental leave, impacts, and gender equality: what/how are we measuring?

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 441-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Doucet ◽  
Lindsey McKay
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Unpaid Leave ◽  
Leave Taking ◽  
Canadian Provinces ◽  
And Gender

PurposeThis research article explores several questions about assessing the impacts of fathers' parental leave take up and gender equality. We ask: How does the conceptual and contextual specificity of care and equality shape what we focus on, and how, when we study parental leave policies and their impacts? What and how are we measuring?Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on a longitudinal qualitative research study on families with fathers who had taken parental leave in two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Québec), which included interviews with 26 couples in the first stage (25 mother/father couples and one father/father couple) and with nine couples a decade later. Guided by Margaret Somers' historical sociology of concept formation, we explore the concepts of care and equality (and their histories, networks, and narratives) and how they are taken up in parental leave research. We also draw on insights from three feminist scholars who have made major contributions to theoretical intersections between care, work, equality, social protection policies, and care deficits: Nancy Fraser, Joan Williams, and Martha Fineman.FindingsThe relationship between fathers' leave-taking and gender equality impacts is a complex, non-linear entanglement shaped by the specificities of state and employment policies and by how these structure parental eligibility for leave benefits, financial dimensions of leave-taking (including wage replacement rates for benefits), childcare possibilities/limitations and related financial dimensions for families, masculine work norms in workplaces, and intersections of gender and social class. Overall, we found that maximizing both parental leave time and family income in order to sustain good care for their children (through paid and unpaid leave time, followed by limited and expensive childcare services) was articulated as a more immediate concern to parents than were issues of gender equality. Our research supports the need to draw closer connections between parental leave, childcare, and workplace policies to better understand how these all shape parental leave decisions and practices and possible gender equality outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThe article is based on a small and fairly homogenous Canadian research sample and thus calls for more research to be done on diverse families, with attention to possible conceptual diversity arising from these sites.Practical implicationsThis research calls for greater attention to: the genealogies of, and relations between, the concepts of care, equality, and subjectivity that guide parental leave research and policy; to the historical specificity of models like the Universal Caregiver model; and to the need for new models and conceptual configurations that can guide research on care, equality, and parental leave policies in current global contexts of neoliberal capitalism.Originality/valueWe call for a move toward thinking about care, not only as care time, but as responsibilities, which can be partly assessed through the stories people tell about how they negotiate and navigate care, domestic work, and paid work responsibilities in specific contexts and conditions across time. We also advocate for gender equality concepts that attend to how families navigate restrictive parental leave and childcare policies and how broader socio-economic inequalities arise partly from state policies underpinned by a concept of liberal autonomous subjects rather than relational subjects who face moments of vulnerability and inter-dependence across the life course.

Predictors of parental leave support: Bad news for (big) dads and a policy for equality

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 810-830
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Gloor ◽  
Xinxin Li ◽  
Rebecca M. Puhl
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Managerial Discretion ◽  
Bad News ◽  
Unpaid Labor ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Employee Characteristics ◽  
Variable Support

Parenthood increases gender inequality in paid (employment) and unpaid labor (e.g., caretaking). New parental leave plans aim to increase gender equality by reducing managerial discretion and offering gender-neutral benefits. However, coworkers may undermine these inclusive aims, particularly if they show variable support per employee characteristics. Thus, we examine why and how employee gender and obesity interactively predict coworkers’ support for parental leave and test an intervention to increase equality. Three between-subjects experiments with working American adults ( Ns = 133–252) indicate that obesity decreases coworkers’ parental leave support for men, but increases coworkers’ parental leave support for women; these effects are replicated and mediated by coworkers’ caregiving ability expectations of the employees, inequalities that are reduced when parental leave is made the default. Discussion focuses on our results’ implications for theory, practice, and for men and women’s paid and unpaid labor, including recommendations for parental leave policy design and delivery to increase equality.

Parental Leave Policy and Gender Equality in Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Castro-García ◽  
Maria Pazos-Moran
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
And Gender

Gender equality: Parental Leave design and evaluating its effects on fathers’ participation

2019 ◽  
pp. 187-204
Author(s):  
Ann-Zofie Duvander ◽  
Guðný Björk Eydal ◽  
Berit Brandth ◽  
Ingólfur V. Gíslason ◽  
Johanna Lammi-Taskula ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Leave Taking ◽  
And Gender

This chapter is about the design of Parental Leave policy and its relationship to leave-taking by fathers and gender equality more generally. The Nordic countries have historically emphasised gender equality in policymaking and have been in the forefront for introducing policies that encourage mothers and fathers to share responsibility for the care of children. Parental Leave is considered to be one such policy as it secures fathers’ rights to participate in the care of the child, with potentially long-term effects on their involvement with children and the division of unpaid and paid work. However, there are different designs for Parental Leave, and the chapter identifies the major dimensions in the design of Nordic Parental Leave policies and evaluates them in relation to their effect on gender equality. It also considers how to conceptualise and measure gender equality in association with Parental Leave.

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.

scholarly journals Social Inclusion or Gender Equality? Political Discourses on Parental Leave in Finland and Sweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-312
Author(s):  
Mikael Nygård ◽  
Ann-Zofie Duvander
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Paid Parental Leave ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right ◽  
Same Sex Parents

During the 2010s, both Finland and Sweden made advancements in their parental leave systems by widening the right to paid parental leave to a greater diversity of family constellations and investing in gender-equal leave distribution through longer leave periods reserved for the father. However, in the latter respect, Sweden has remained more successful than Finland. This article analyses government and political party discourses in Finland and Sweden during the 2010s in pursuit of an explanation to this difference and for understanding how ideas on social inclusion and gender equality have been used to drive, or block, policy reforms in the field of parental leave. The results show that the parental leave discourses have become influenced by ideas on social inclusion and gender equality in both countries, but in somewhat different ways. While gender equality has retained a stronger position in the Swedish discourse and its policy, social inclusion, and notably the rights of same-sex parents, have become more visible in the Finnish. However, the results also show that both ideas have remained contested on a party level, especially by confessional and nationalist-populist parties.

Positive Duties and Gender Equality

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 91-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colm O'cinneide
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
Positive Duty ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
Positive Duties ◽  
And Gender ◽  
First Time

The imposition since 1998 of a variety of positive equality duties upon public authorities has attracted comparatively little academic attention. However, these duties are a central part of current government equality initiatives, increasingly constitute a major part of the work of the UK's equality commissions, and have been described as an essential part of a new ‘fourth generation’ of equality legislation. It now appears likely that a positive duty to promote gender equality will soon be imposed upon public authorities, which will complement similar race and disability duties. Will the introduction of this positive gender equality duty add to, detract or complement existing statutory provisions? Given the danger that ‘soft law’ initiatives may undermine existing anti-discrimination controls, will the duty provide a clear steer to public authorities, or will it lack teeth, substance and direction, and possibly even prove counter-productive? Such positive duties are designed to compensate for the limitations of existing anti-discrimination law, by requiring the taking of positive steps to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, rather than just compelling a reactive compliance with the letter of the (equality) law. The justifications in principle for the introduction of such duties are strong: for the first time, the introduction of a positive gender duty will impose a clear legislative obligation upon public authorities to adopt a substantive equality approach and to take proactive action to redress patterns of disadvantage linked to gender discrimination. Serious concerns do however exist as to the extent to which such duties can be enforced, and the danger that they will simply encourage greater bureaucratic activity at the expense of real change. The proposed gender duty, as with the other duties that have been introduced, is no panacea. Nevertheless, it does constitute a good start, can serve a useful function by empowering public authorities to take positive action, and if effectively used will be a very valuable point of pressure to push for better things.

Excellence and gender

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farinaz Fassa
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Feminist Movements

Purpose – Discussing the Swiss case, the purpose of this paper is to examine how gender equality policies deal with the present requirements for scholars to be considered “excellent”. It aims to pinpoint the lines of tension or coherence between excellence, meritocracy and gender politics. Design/methodology/approach – In order to specify the norms of academic careers and their different renditions, the author draws on two studies (at local and national levels) to illustrate where the changes and resistances are taking place. Findings – The translations of a number of demands of feminist movements into the policies set up to favour equality between the sexes may combine to challenge the norms of academia as a gendered realm. Nevertheless, without strong pressure from feminists at local level and the conduct of research pursuing the enterprise of deconstructing norms, top-down policies may prove less “corrective” than affirmative action. This pressure is not only useful to build gender equality in science but also to broaden the spectrum of knowledge that can become a common good. Research limitations/implications – As neither the names nor the positions of the experts who select the candidates at national level are made public, we had to opt for other, less satisfactory means. Originality/value – The originality of the paper lies in the link made between the enhancements brought by Equalities policies and the changes they bring. It attempts to bring to light the extent to which gender equality policies conform to the neo-managerial order or challenge its norms to build a world that is more just.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document