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.

Parental Leave: The Need for a National Policy to Foster Sexual Equality

1987 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-104
Author(s):  
Scott A. Caplan-Cotenoff
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Working Women ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Sexual Equality ◽  
Pregnancy Discrimination ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
The U.S

AbstractWorking women are without substantial protection from the ramifications of pregnancy discrimination, and the opportunities for working men to take leave from work to participate in child care are limited. Recently, private businesses have begun implementing maternity or parental leave policies to address these problems. These policies are inconsistent, however, and a national parental leave program is needed to help women attain equal access to jobs and to provide men with the opportunity to participate in child care.This Note examines the historical background of pregnancy discrimination litigation and legislation, and highlights the gaps in the protection currently afforded women. It suggests that a federal parental leave policy may expand the scope of this protection, and attempts to gain insight and draw conclusions from analogous parental leave programs in foreign countries which may be used as models for a national program in the U.S. Such a program would benefit parents, children, and society by removing some of the obstacles to sexual equality.

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.

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 The Impact of Parental Leave Policy on Child-Rearing and Employment Behavior: The Case of Germany

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Serafima Chirkova
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Maternal Employment ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Reform Implementation ◽  
Leave Policy ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Parental leave and child care are important instruments of family policies to improve work–family balance. This paper studies the impact of the substantial change in Germany’s parental leave system on maternal employment. The aim of the reform was to decrease birth-related maternal employment breaks by providing more generous parental benefits for a shorter period of time. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel data for 2002–2015, I exploited quasi-experimental variation in the benefits to estimate the impact of the reform. I incorporated the mother’s decision to substitute her care time with the public child care. To control for the availability of child care, I used spatial and temporal variation in the availability of childcare slots. Overall, I did not find significant changes in maternal employment during the first three years of motherhood after the reform implementation. Only for high-income mothers, the reform produced a significant decrease in the employment participation during the first year of leave and an increase in employment probability after the benefits expired. The empirical findings suggest that the restriction in the childcare availability became an important constraint for the employment effect of the reform.

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.

scholarly journals Silencing touch and touching silence? Understanding the complex links between touch and silence in residential child care settings

Childhood ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 090756822110001
Author(s):  
Lorraine Green ◽  
Lisa Warwick ◽  
Lisa Moran
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Residential Child Care ◽  
Children’S Homes ◽  
Residential Childcare

Touch and silence are neglected across most disciplines, including within child-specific academic literature, and their interconnections have not been studied before. This article focuses on touch/silence convergences in residential childcare in England, drawing from two qualitative studies. We reveal the fluidity, multidimensionality and intersectionality of touch and silence, illuminating the labyrinthine ways they frequently coalesce in children’s homes, often assuming ambiguous forms and meanings. We therefore offer new understandings of these concepts, as multifaceted, entwined, temporal and malleable.

scholarly journals 21.L. Workshop: To what extent can we trust our data on trends in mental health among adolescents?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Positive Mental Health ◽  
Qualitative Studies ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Psychosomatic Complaints ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Epidemiological Surveys ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Mental health complaints have increased among school-aged children in the Nordic countries, especially among girls according to survey data in the Nordic countries. Moreover, the consumption of mental health services among adolescents has also increased. However, criticism from qualitative researchers have questioned the validity of the response to survey questions and the interpretation of the results. This controversy has been public in the media both in Denmark and Sweden. The objectives of the workshop are to describe trends in mental health among adolescents in the Nordic countries, review criticism of mental health indicators, discuss measurement and analytical options, and consider consequences for policy making. Moreover, the workshop will discuss the situation in other parts of the worlds. Researchers in five Nordic countries have collaborated in the Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (HBSC) study to mental health. School-aged children, 11-, 13- and 15-year olds (n = 112,000) have participated in HBSC surveys. Of key concern are psychosomatic complaints (1985-2018), but trends will also be presented for indicators of excellent self-rated health and high life satisfaction (2002-2018), with additional indicators of positive mental health (Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, General self-efficacy, Self-esteem) from the 2017/18 HBSC data collection. There has been an increase in the psychosomatic complaints among girls and boys, in all age groups and in the five Nordic countries. Strengths and limitations of epidemiological surveys will be discussed. The impact of different frequency cut points will be presented as well as the heterogeneities regarding profiles of adolescents with different combination of negative and positive mental health indicators. Moreover, qualitative studies and registry-based analysis will be used as contrasting evidence. The qualitative studies on symptom perception indicate that the prevalence of problems may be overestimated, and data from psychiatric care and prescription of drugs show important increase. After an introduction and two presentations the workshop will be a dialogue with the participants. First the core similarities and differences between countries will be explored. Then the policy implications will be discussed. Key messages The HBSC survey design give thousands of adolescents and children across dozens of nations the ability to be heard through a reliable and valid methodology. It is important to use indicators according to their intended use, monitoring of population trends, developing causal networks of determinants, screening of clinical cases or as diagnostic tools.

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