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.

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.

United Kingdom: leave policy and an attempt to take a new path

2019 ◽  
pp. 57-74
Author(s):  
Peter Moss ◽  
Margaret O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Change Of Direction ◽  
Classic Case ◽  
Leave Policy

This chapter examines an attempt to transform UK leave policy, re-configuring it away from maternalism and towards greater gender equality, and why this attempted change of direction failed. It shows how the country introduced statutory leave at a late date, compared to other European countries, and adopted with little consideration a model centred on long and low paid Maternity Leave. After two decades of neglect, when leave policy came back onto the government’s agenda, this model became more established as Maternity Leave was further extended, while a newly introduced Parental Leave was marginalised. Attempted reform, in 2011-12, failed, due to insufficient support and understanding, leaving UK leave policy as a classic case of path dependency.

scholarly journals Addressing gender inequality: Stumbling blocks and roads ahead

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thekla Morgenroth ◽  
Michelle K. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Workplace Diversity ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Gender Research

Despite many positive changes in terms of gender equality in recent decades, women remain underrepresented in positions of power and prestige, and continue to shoulder disproportionate amounts of unpaid domestic labor. This special issue brings together an examination of the different ways in which gender inequality can be addressed, the efficacy of such approaches, and the consequences these approaches can have. In this introduction to the special issue, we discuss the focus of past and present gender research and outline issues which have received less attention. We further give an overview of the papers in this special issue, which focus on a diverse range of ways in which gender inequality can be addressed, such as collective action, workplace diversity initiatives and parental leave policies, gender-fair language, and government policies. Taken together, these papers illustrate (a) the importance of ensuring that initiatives are evidence-based, (b) the ways in which we can maximize the effectiveness of interventions, and (c) the need to understand when these initiatives may inadvertently backfire.

scholarly journals The High-hanging Fruit of the Gender Revolution: A Model of Social Reproduction and Social Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-61
Author(s):  
David Calnitsky
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Equilibrium Path ◽  
The Social ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
And Gender

This article proposes an abstract sociological model of stable patriarchal social relations and feminist social change. I describe a patriarchal equilibrium of gender inequality and propose an approach for thinking about how various kinds of interventions can short-circuit the system, pushing it onto a new equilibrium path. In particular, I focus on possible interventions into parental leave policy, describing their social structural and cultural ramifications as well as a range of objections to them. However, more important than the specific interventions proposed is the general model itself, which depicts reinforcing structures of patriarchal culture, gender inequality in labor markets, and gender inequality in the home—and moreover, how this model can evolve. It describes a feedback loop that can lock structures of gender inequality in place but also provides a means for considering the spaces available to both blunt the social reproduction of gender inequality and reinforce “genderless” social relations.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Shared Parental Leave: Exploring Variations in Attitudes, Eligibility, Knowledge and Take-up Intentions of Expectant Mothers in London

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE TWAMLEY ◽  
PIA SCHOBER
Keyword(s):  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Expectant Mothers ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Research And Policy

AbstractIn April 2015, the UK introduced Shared Parental Leave (SPL), allowing mothers to transfer their maternity leave to their partners from two weeks after the birth or adoption of a child. There has been very limited research conducted on this leave policy to date and knowledge on take-up is poor. We present findings from an in-depth survey conducted with expectant mothers in two NHS trusts in England on their knowledge, views and plans around leave after the birth of their child and examine variations across educational and ethnic groups. A total of 575 expectant mothers took part in the survey. Around 7.4 per cent of expectant mothers who were (self-)employed or in education intended to take SPL. Finances and worries over fathers’ careers were cited as the primary barriers to take up of SPL. Individual entitlement for fathers and knowing others who took SPL increased individuals’ reported intention to take SPL. Applying logistic regression models, we found that knowledge of and access to SPL is correlated with education, ethnicity and home ownership. Future research and policy design should attend to such issues to ensure equitable access across families.

scholarly journals Socially Inclusive Parenting Leaves and Parental Benefit Entitlements: Rethinking Care and Work Binaries

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Doucet
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Global North ◽  
Parental Benefits

How can parental leave design be more socially inclusive? Should all parents be entitled to parental benefits or only those parents who are eligible based on a particular level of labour market participation? To think through questions of social inclusion in parental leave policy design, particularly issues related to entitlements to benefits, I make three arguments. First, aiming to extend Dobrotić and Blum’s work on entitlements to parental benefits, I argue that ‘mixed systems’ that include both citizenship‐based and employment‐based benefits are just and socially inclusive approaches to parental leaves and citizenship. Second, to build a robust conceptual scaffolding for a ‘mixed’ benefits approach, I argue that that we need to attend to the histories and relationalities of the concepts and conceptual narratives that implicitly or explicitly inform parental leave policies and scholarship. Third, and more broadly, I argue that a metanarrative of care and work binaries underpins most scholarship and public and policy discourses on care work and paid work and on social policies, including parental leave policies. In this article, I outline revisioned conceptual narratives of care and work relationalities, arguing that they can begin to chip away at this metanarrative and that this kind of un‐thinking and rethinking can help us to envi‐ sion parental leave beyond employment policy—as care and work policy. Specifically, I focus on conceptual narratives that combine (1) care and work intra‐connections, (2) ethics of care and justice, and (3) ‘social care,’ ‘caring with,’ transforma‐ tive social protection, and social citizenship. Methodologically and epistemologically, this article is guided by my reading of Margaret Somers’ genealogical and relational approach to concepts, conceptual narratives, and metanarratives, and it is written in a Global North socio‐economic context marked by the COVID‐19 pandemic and 21st century neoliberalism.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document