Abstract
The limited increase in fathers’ involvement in childcare tasks in response to the unprecedented rise in female labour market participation illustrates the incomplete nature of the gender revolution. Available research provides evidence for micro-economic mechanisms and the influence of gender norms and social policy design on couples’ gendered divisions of parental leave, but knowledge on how national level contexts shape partners’ agency remains limited. Hence, comparative research from different national contexts is needed. This paper examines the association between fathers’ pre-birth income and workplace characteristics, and whether they take up parental leave after the birth of their first child in Belgium and Sweden by using detailed longitudinal register data from Sweden and Belgium. Results show that, whereas an opportunity cost logic seems to underlie fathers’ parental leave decisions in Belgium, gender equality in contributing to the household income yields the highest probability of fathers’ parental leave uptake in Sweden. Furthermore, in Sweden, fathers’ employment characteristics are more strongly associated with whether fathers’ take leave longer than the quota than whether fathers take any leave at all. The different mechanisms in Belgium and Sweden suggest that the design of leave policies and the broader normative and institutional national level context moderate couples’ parental leave uptake decisions.
Highlights
In response to the unprecedented rise in women’s educational and labour market participation and the associated rise in the share of dual-earner couples in recent decades, governments have increasingly developed social policies geared towards reconciling work and family life (Thévenon 2008)
The overall barriers to take parental leave may be lower in Sweden, we expect that using more than the father’s quota may be much more subject to intra-household negotiations based on fathers’ income and workplace characteristics for two reasons: (i) whereas not using the quota implies renouncing a benefit as it cannot be transferred to the mother, using more than the quota implies using a part of the leave that is transferable and (ii) using more than the quota implies longer absence from work and possibly higher costs in terms of income and career disadvantages
This contrasts with Sweden, where during the same period 88.3% of the fathers used parental leave and 48.5% of the fathers exhibited uptake above and beyond the quota (Table 1)
Summary
In response to the unprecedented rise in women’s educational and labour market participation and the associated rise in the share of dual-earner couples in recent decades, governments have increasingly developed social policies geared towards reconciling work and family life (Thévenon 2008). This study compares to which extent fathers’ parental leave uptake after the birth of the first child can be explained by their pre-birth (relative) labour market positions in Belgium and Sweden by using detailed longitudinal register data on dual earner couples These two countries are quite similar with regard to the gender-equal setup of their parental leave systems (e.g., individual entitlement and equal length of leave for men and women) and exhibit highly developed work–family reconciliation policies (e.g., widespread availability of formal childcare) (OECD 2016a; Population Council 2006). The question for gender equality in parental leave is placed high on the European policy agenda; higher uptake of family-related leave and flexible working arrangements by men is one of the main aims in the European Council’s new directive on the work–life balance for parents and carers (EPRS 2019)
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