Abstract
In recent decades, many Western European countries introduced parental leave policies to support the work–family combination in families with young children. However, these parental leave schemes often exhibit employment‐based eligibility criteria, so the question arises to which extent social inequalities emerge in the access to parental leave, and as a result thereof also in the uptake of parental leave. Although research on parental leave increasingly addresses the issue of inclusiveness, only a limited number of studies has yet examined individual‐level differentials in parents’, and especially mothers’, eligibility. Using detailed register data, we develop an individual‐level indicator of eligibility in Belgium and deploy it to document differentiation in mothers’ eligibility by age at first birth, partnership status, migration background and education. In addition, we examine to what extent differential eligibility can explain inequalities in parental leave uptake. Our results show that a considerable share of mothers—specifically very young, single, low educated mothers and mothers with a migration background—do not meet the eligibility criteria and thus are structurally excluded from parental leave in Belgium. Furthermore, differential eligibility can account for a large part of the age and educational gradients in parental leave use, as well as differences by migration background. Eligibility cannot (fully) account for lower parental leave use by single mothers and mothers with a Moroccan or Turkish migration background. Our findings suggest that a reconsideration of eligibility criteria may be instrumental in increasing the inclusiveness of parental leave policies.
Highlights
Over the past decades, the focus of social policy has been widening from solely protecting against social risks to complementary ‘social investment’ policies aimed at reinforcing human capital and labour market integration, especially of mothers (Cantillon & Van Lancker, 2013; Hemerijck, 2015)
Close to one‐fourth of mothers are by default excluded from using parental leave
Little is known about whether these leave systems do so for all parents, or whether their inclusiveness is limited to specific groups of parents (Dobrotić & Blum, 2019a; Ellingsæter et al, 2020; Kil et al, 2018)
Summary
The focus of social policy has been widening from solely protecting against social risks to complementary ‘social investment’ policies aimed at reinforcing human capital and labour market integration, especially of mothers (Cantillon & Van Lancker, 2013; Hemerijck, 2015). Except for the studies carried out by Bártová and Emery (2018), McKay et al (2016) and Kil et al (2018), hitherto little research has addressed individual‐level dif‐ ferentials in parents’, and especially mothers’, eligibility In response to this gap in knowledge, we con‐ struct an individual‐level indicator of eligibility and examine the inclusiveness of Belgian parental leave policy. The construction of such an indicator is innovative and informative as there is, hitherto, no official measurement of the share of parents that is eligible in Belgium (Mortelmans & Fusulier, 2020) This indi‐ cator allows to empirically examine which groups of par‐ ents are excluded, and to which extent differential eli‐ gibility can account for variation in the actual uptake of parental leave. This case study may interest policymakers in other countries where employment‐based eligibility criteria are gain‐ ing importance, as to what this may imply in terms of inclusiveness
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
