Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Abstract

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental leave intentions in young adults (18-30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed.

Differences between prescriptive and proscriptive gender stereotypes and gendered self‐evaluations in Sweden

“…In relation to the sample, cross‐cultural work is also encouraged. The present study was conducted in Sweden, and as previous research show (Kosakowska‐Berezecka et al ., 2022; Olsson et al ., 2023) national level gender equality and individual level gender attitudes matter for gender egalitarian behaviors and self‐attributions.…”

Gender (in)equality at the kitchen table: A diary study on how Parents' coordination facilitates an equal task division and relationship quality

“…To resolve these persistent gender inequalities in paid and unpaid work, emphasis is placed on changing governmental and employment law policies (e.g., increasing paternity leave take‐up, flexible work arrangements, decreasing daycare costs). However, these policies do not automatically translate into behavioural change in how parents divide tasks at home with their partner (Pruckner & Sausgruber, 2013; Tankard & Paluck, 2016) or could even have countereffects (Olsson et al., 2023; Yerkes et al., 2017). In the current paper, we propose that explicit daily coordination of tasks is a way for parents to break down the ingrained gender stereotypes.…”

But what did they do on leave? Differing evaluations of men and women's completion of work tasks on parental leave

“…Although parental leave is available to both mothers and fathers in many countries around the world, large gender differences persist in both intentions to take leave and actual leaving taking (Olsson et al, 2022). In the U.S., less than 5% of fathers take more than two weeks of paternity leave (Petts et al, 2020).…”

“…Expanding the focus of research beyond perceptions of working men who simply do or do not take leave is important, as parental leave advances have led to consistent increases in fathers' share of parental leave usage (Duvander et al, 2019). Paid parental leave policies that include-or specifically earmark-fathers have been shown to influence norms (Farré et al, 2022;Omidakhsh et al, 2020), intentions (Olsson et al, 2022) and uptake rates (Jurado-Guerrero & Muñoz-Comet, 2021). Although many view this as a step towards greater equality for mothers and fathers in the workplace, the findings of Tharp and Parks-Stamm (2021) suggest that men and women may face different expectations for what they should accomplish while on parental leave.…”