Parental Leave Research Articles

Costing a Maternity Leave Cash Transfer to Support Breastfeeding Among Informally Employed Mexican Women.

Investing in maternity protection for working women is an important social equity mechanism. Addressing the maternity leave needs of women employed in the informal sector economy should be a priority as more than half of women in Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa are employed in this sector. To develop a costing methodology framework to assess the financial feasibility, at the national level, of implementing a maternity cash transfer for informally employed women. A World Bank costing methodology was adapted for estimating the financial need to establish a maternity cash transfer benefit. The methodology estimates the cash transfer's unitary cost, the incremental coverage of the policy in terms of time, the weighted population to be covered, and the administrative costs. The 6-step methodology uses employment and sociodemographic data that are available in many countries through employment and demographic surveys and the population census. The methodology was tested with data for Mexico assuming different cash transfer unitary costs and the benefit's time coverage. The methodological framework estimated that the annual financial needs of setting up a maternity cash transfer for informally working women in Mexico ranges between US$87 million and US$280 million. A pragmatic methodology for assessing the costs of maternity cash transfer for informally employed women was developed. In the case of Mexico, the maternity cash transfer for women in the informal sector is financially feasible.

COHESION IN ANNE HATHAWAY’S SPEECH TEXT ON “PAID PARENTAL LEAVE IS ABOUT CREATING FREEDOM TO DEFINE ROLES”

This research aims to identify the grammatical and lexical cohesion used in Anne Hathaway’s speech text on “Paid Parental Leave is about Creating Freedom to Define Roles”, and interpret how grammatical and lexical cohesion are used in Anne Hathaway’s speech text on “Paid Parental Leave is about Creating Freedom to Define Roles”.The type of this research is descriptive qualitative research. The result of this research shows that all types of grammatical and lexical cohesion are used in the speech text. For the grammatical cohesions are: reference (personal, demonstrative and comparative reference), substitution (nominal substitution), ellipsis (verbal and clausal ellipsis) and conjunction (additive, adversative, causal and temporal conjunction). Meanwhile, the lexical cohesions are: reiteration (repetition, synonym, superordinate and general word) and collocation. The most dominant of cohesive devices used in the speech text is reference especially for personal reference. All those cohesive devices are used clearly, it means that the speech text of Anne Hathaway entitled “Paid Parental Leave is about Creating Freedom to Define Roles” used grammatical and lexical cohesion well. Finally, the writer suggests that cohesion is important to be studied in language learning because cohesion can be used as a strategy to construct and comprehend any text especially for speech.

Employee Experiences with a Newly Adopted Paid Parental Leave Policy: Equity Considerations for Policy Implementation.

Purpose: Paid parental leave (PPL) policies offer immense opportunity to enhance health equity by providing financial stability to workers and promoting the health of families in the United States. Working in partnership with a local county government, which recently adopted a paid leave policy, we engaged in a qualitative substudy to enhance our understanding of how workers perceived and experienced the policy across levels of the socioecological framework.Methods: Working in partnership with Multnomah County, a large public-sector employer in Portland, OR that recently adopted a PPL policy, we collected qualitative data through focus groups with employees. Data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically.Results: We conducted seven focus groups with county employees (N=35) in the fall of 2017. Three major themes emerged from the focus group data: intersectional inequities, disparities by department, and uneven benefits.Conclusions: Our findings highlight the inequities of experience with the PPL policy across employees at individual, organization, and environmental levels. These findings offer insight and guidance for entities considering the adoption and implementation of such policies to consider concrete steps to enhance equity of access and experience.

Parental Leave, Lactation, and Childcare Policies at Top US Schools of Public Health.

To describe policies related to parental leave, breastfeeding, and childcare for faculty and staff at top schools of public health in the United States. We identified the top 25 schools of public health from the US News and World Report rankings. We reviewed each institutional Web site to identify publicly available policies as of July 2018. For birth mothers, 80% (20/25) of the schools provided paid childbearing leave to faculty (mean = 8.2 weeks), and 48% (12/25) provided paid childbearing leave for staff (mean = 5.0 weeks). For nonbirth parents, 68% (17/25) provided paid parental leave for faculty and 52% (13/25) for staff (range = 1-15 weeks). We found that 64% (16/25) of the schools had publicly available lactation policies, and 72% (18/25) of the schools had at least 1 university-run on-campus childcare center. The majority of top US schools of public health provide paid leave to faculty birth mothers. However, most schools fall short of the 14 weeks recommended by the American Public Health Association.

Gender Expertise in Public Policymaking: The European Women’s Lobby and the EU Maternity Leave Directive

Abstract Civil society organizations are involved in EU policymaking processes, but are faced with the potential dilemma of providing efficient expertise while at the same time advocating for their interests. This article asks whether the European Women’s Lobby, an EU-level umbrella organization representing women’s interests, manages this inbuilt tension by empirically investigating the balancing of three different types of expertise-based claims (procedural, technical, and normative) in a concrete instance of policymaking, namely the European Maternity Leave Directive. The analysis shows that although the EWL engaged in technical expertise provision, it infused the policy process with normative expertise-based claims.

Where’s dad? Exploring the low take-up of inclusive parenting policies in the UK

ABSTRACTThis research explores approaches to promoting gender equality in the workplace by highlighting barriers to take-up of statutory policies designed to increase fathers’ involvement in childcare. Specifically, the paper examines why take-up of Shared Parental Leave (SPL), designed to improve gender equality in the workplace and home, has been low in the UK. There is a dearth of academic literature in this area. Extant grey literature suggests financial barriers, maternal gatekeeping and the perceived effects of extended leave on fathers’ careers are key, but fails to explore other barriers, or the variations in take-up. We interviewed 70 men and women entitled to SPL to address these limitations. We identify new barriers, notably poor policy communication at an organizational level, perceived policy complexity and societal expectations around maternal identities, while also showing how these barriers affect different groups of parents. We find professional couples are most likely to take SPL, particularly where the mother earns more or the father’s company enhances Shared Parental Pay. The complex, multiple barriers parents face also differ, according to the couple’s educational background and the workplace culture. Finally, we offer recommendations for increasing SPL take-up and driving workplace gender equality in the UK and internationally.

Managing Family and Career: Australian Women’s Labour Force Transitions after Maternity Leave

The increase in women’s return to paid work after maternity or parental leave in advanced societies has garnered much scholarly attention, particularly on women’s participation positively contributing to the labour market and economy. Moreover, the link between supporting employees with caregiving responsibilities, attracting, retaining and developing talent, and business competitiveness is now well-documented. However, women’s pregnancy, maternity or parental leave, and return to paid work remain key legal, policy and Human Resource Management challenges for many organisations. This dilemma between policy implementation and how organisations mishandle women’s return to work, is exemplified in the findings from the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s 2013 National Review into discrimination related to pregnancy, parental leave and return to work. This article is concerned with two questions: How do women manage the combination and juggle of their paid work, caring and return to work? How are gendered inequities are sustained and reproduced in the return to work, despite access to the best available maternity or parental leave policy? This article addresses these questions by examining data from a completed longitudinal qualitative study on women’s return work in higher education and retail sectors in Australia in the 21st century. Drawing on women’s experiences across three interviews over two years, this article argues that access to the best available policy is not enough to manage multiple uncertainties at the return to work. Household, child care and workplace culture and practices are paramount and require a considered approach to support women’s return to work.

The Effect of Maternity Leave Expansions on Fertility Intentions: Evidence from Switzerland

We study the effect of the expansion of the mandatory paid maternity leave, implemented in Switzerland in 2005, on individuals’ fertility intentions. Earlier literature found evidence of fertility increases induced by maternity leave expansions from other countries of a relatively large magnitude of 1 year. The expansion that we consider was smaller, from 8 unpaid weeks to 14 mandatory paid weeks, and thus its effect on fertility decisions is less evident ex ante. Nevertheless, we find that it positively impacts fertility planning even though, by construction, our model specification cannot capture its full effect. The strongest effects are elicited in the subsamples of men, individuals with two children, and individuals aged between 31 and 36. There are several channels through which the maternity leave expansion may affect individuals’ child planning, all indicative of a positive effect on the fertility rate.

Fathers’ Use of Parental Leave and Union Dissolution

With increasing union dissolution and changing gender behaviour, questions have emerged about possible links between gender equality and union stability. The aim of this article is to examine whether and how early fathers' involvement in child-rearing is associated with union dissolution in three Nordic countries. All three countries have reserved part of their parental leave to be used by one parent in order to promote fathers' engagement in child-rearing. Our analysis uses fathers' parental leave as a proxy for his involvement, and we distinguish between fathers who take no leave ("non-conforming fathers"), fathers who take only the reserved part ("policy-conforming fathers") and fathers who take more than the reserved part ("gender-egalitarian-oriented fathers"). We find that couples in which the father uses parental leave have a lower risk of union dissolution than couples in which the father takes no leave. The pattern is consistent for all countries, for the whole study period 1993-2011, and for cohabiting and married couples. However, we do not find support for asserting that the couples with greatest gender equality, in which fathers take longer leave than the policy reserves, are the most stable unions, as the pattern is not uniform in the three countries. We attribute this to the fact that gender equality within the family in the Nordic countries is still an ongoing process, and the relationship between gender behaviour and union stability is still in flux.

Does Care Experience Affect Policy Interests? Male Legislators, Parental Leave, and Political Priorities in Sweden

A central argument in theories on women's political interests has been that the sexual division of labor, inter alia, gives women greater experience of responsibility for the care of others, especially children, which in turn influences their political attitudes. However, the specifics of this claim have not been sufficiently examined in prior literature. By applying unique data on Swedish legislators’ subjective policy preferences and use of their parental leave over time, this article explores empirically whether the personal roles of members of parliament (MPs) in reproduction affect their political preferences, regardless of their sex. The analysis reveals that men's interest in social policy tends to increase after being on parental leave while in office, whereas women's interest in social and family policy remains strong, regardless. This finding might indicate a care experience mechanism at work, pertinent also to men, but with a possibly shallower content. The analysis raises the question: are care issues, previously seen as women's issues, now becoming human issues? It further contributes to the discussion on ways to measure gender other than using sex as proxy.

Improvement Plan for Substitute Human Resources Pool Bank System on Parental Leave – Focused on Local Governments

Improvement Plan for Substitute Human Resources Pool Bank System on Parental Leave – Focused on Local Governments

The Baby Year Parental Leave Reform in the GDR and its Impact on Children's Long-Term Life Satisfaction

This article investigates the effects of an increase in paid parental leave -- twelve months instead of six months -- on children's long-term life satisfaction. The historical setting under study, namely the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), allows us to circumvent problems of selection of women into the labor market and an insufficient or heterogeneous non-parental child care supply, which are issues many other studies on parental leave reforms face. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) we analyze the birth cohorts from 1980 to 1989 at adult age, and apply a difference-in-difference design making use of the very specific timing of the GDR's parental leave reforms in 1976 and 1986. We find significant and robust positive parental leave effects on life satisfaction. We also analyze whether the increase in life satisfaction is driven by a positive development of personality, health factors, schooling or labor market outcomes. Our results suggest that the increase in life satisfaction might be partially explained by personality development for individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds and boys. For individuals from high socioeconomic backgrounds, it might be driven by a better health.

Costs of Employment and Flexible Labor Demand: Evidence from Maternity and Parental Leave Reforms

This study examines the effects on workers from the labor-demand response to the costs of mandated maternity and parental leave programs. Japan introduced generous parental leave policies in the 1990s, but for many years, firms still had to pay for the worker's social insurance payments during leave, amounting to 13 percent of earnings. A series of reforms occurring in 2000, 2001 and 2014 gradually reduced these costs to zero. This paper uses this quasi-experimental variation in the cost of female employment to measure the labor demand response. I focus on two key outcomes: starting wages of women of child-bearing age and the probability they are hired on permanent contracts. I find that a 100 thousand yen (approximately $1,000 USD) decrease in costs of employment during leave increase the probability of starting on a permanent contract by 1.6 percentage points, and increase starting pay by 3.3 percentage points. In contrast with previous studies, the unique setting I study allows me to separate the effects of changes in costs from endogenous responses by workers and firms to the menu of benefits. These findings have important implications for other countries mandating similar benefit schemes.

Cognition for paternity leave of nursing students : Q-methodology

Cognition for paternity leave of nursing students : Q-methodology

Parental Leave, Household Specialization and Children's Well-Being

Many countries offer new parents long periods of paid leave. Proponents argue that parental leave programs can reduce gender gaps in the labor market, support marital stability and promote children's well-being. In this paper, I show that lengthy leaves can instead work against several of these intended goals. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that a 3-year expansion of paid leave in France increases household specialization by inducing mothers to exit the labor force and fathers to raise their work hours. The leave further discourages marriages among cohabiting couples and harms children's verbal development.

Earmarked Paternity Leave and the Relative Income Within Couples

We study the causal link between earmarked paternity leave policies and the relative income share of women within couples. We utilize high quality administrative longitudinal register data for the universe of Danish individuals with a reform in 1998, which increased the earmarked paternity leave of fathers from two to four weeks. We estimate that the reform increased the women’s intra-household share of labor income with around 1.2 percentage points in the years following childbirth. We estimate a significant increase up to seven years after childbirth. We furthermore find that the effect is primarily driven by women employed in the private sector.

Does Paternity Leave Reduce Fertility?

Does Paternity Leave Reduce Fertility?

The Drivers of Mothers’ Parental Leave Decisions: Evidence from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal survey

The Drivers of Mothers’ Parental Leave Decisions: Evidence from the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal survey

The Impact of Paid Family Leave on the Timing of Infant Vaccinations

Raising a new-born child involves not only financial resources, but also time investment from the parents. A time constraint can affect important decisions made by parents at the early stages of an infant's life. One form of investment that is particularly important is vaccinating an infant. We analyze the impact of time constraints on immunization of infants on time. To establish a causal relationship, we exploit California's implementation of Paid Parental Leave Program as a natural experiment. Using a nationally representative dataset from the National Immunization Survey, we find evidence that the policy reduced late vaccinations for children born to parents in California after the policy was implemented. We test for heterogeneous effects of the policy on different subgroups in the population. We find the policy had a stronger impact on families that are below the poverty line. We conduct a series of falsification tests and robustness checks to test the validity of the results. In addition, our results are robust to several placebo tests.

아버지 대상 가족친화제도 디커플링 인식 및 영향요인: 배우자 출산휴가와 육아휴직을 중심으로

아버지 대상 가족친화제도 디커플링 인식 및 영향요인: 배우자 출산휴가와 육아휴직을 중심으로