The Role of Partners and Workplaces in British and Swedish Men’s Parental Leave Decisions

Abstract

Sweden has been long known for its early introduction of parental leave in the 1970s and the introduction of the first nontransferable “daddy month” in 1995 while the United Kingdom (UK) lagged behind with policies that reflected a strong male breadwinner model until the recent introduction of Additional Paternity Leave, which extended paternity leave up to twenty-six weeks. Our study examines parental leave decisions following the changes in policy, paying particular attention to the role of partners and workplaces. We draw on data from thirty-two interviews with Swedish parents conducted in 2008 and twenty-two interviews with British parents conducted in 2012. We find that mothers in both countries have great influence over parental leave decisions. However, this often perpetuates a much greater gendered division of parental leave in the UK than in Sweden. Furthermore, the British workplace continues to hold very different expectations for male and female employees regarding parental leave, while Swedish employers are generally accepting of men’s use of long parental leave.