Workplace support and European fathers’ use of state policies promoting shared childcare

Abstract

Social policies such as paternity leave and parental leave offer fathers the opportunity to be more involved in childcare than earlier generations of fathers. While such policies are increasingly offered by governments around the world, research by the International Network on Leave Policies and Research shows that many European fathers do not take advantage of these benefits, despite fathers' growing interest in participation in early childcare. This article introduces a special issue devoted to understanding how the workplace can impact European fathers' interest in and abilities to take leave, a topic that has received relatively little research attention. The articles in the special issue suggest that barriers to European fathers' leavetaking are deeply embedded in workplace culture and work practices and will be difficult to eradicate without a dramatic challenge to the concept of the male ideal worker, who prioritizes work above family. RÉSUMÉ Les politiques sociales comme le congé de paternité et le congé parental offrent aux pères l'opportunité de s'involver dans les soins aux enfants plus que les pères des générations précédentes l'ont fait. Tandis que telles politiques sont offertes de plus en plus par les gouvernements autour du monde, les recherches du Réseau international sur les Politiques de Congé montrent que beacoup de pères ne prennent pas davantage de ces bénéfices. Cet article introduit un numéro thématique sur la compréhension de l'impact du lieu de travail sur l'intérêt des pères européens au congé et sur leur capacité d'en profiter, un sujet auquel les recherches ont accordé peu d'attention. Les articles dans ce numéro thématique suggèrent que les barrières à l'utilisation des congés par les pères sont profondément intégrées dans la culture du lieu de travail et les habitudes de travail, et seront difficiles à éliminer sans un défi dramatique contre la conception de l'homme travailleur idéal, qui donne priorité au travail plutôt qu'à la famille.

Welfare state regimes, family policies, and family behaviour

“…Qualitative research can partly fill this gap. The advantage of using a qualitative approach in policy research is that it allows researchers to consider aspects that are often not available in surveys or register data, such as personal circumstances, family characteristics, workplace or network relationships, cultural and normative considerations, and details or interactions of policies that may facilitate or hamper the use of a policy (Brinton et al 2018;Haas and Hwang 2019). Mixed-methods approaches have become a useful way to fuse the strengths of quantitative and qualitative research, and to gain a comprehensive understanding of how welfare states and family policies shape family behaviour (Grunow and Evertsson 2016, 2019).…”

“…It first suggests that researchers pay more attention to internal aspects of the labour market, and consider to what extent conditions at the sector, industry, company, firm, or workplace level shape family behaviour. This may be particularly necessary in liberal and hybrid welfare states, in which family and social policy benefits are largely company-or sector-specific, rather than nationally legislated (Haas and Hwang 2019). Even in conservative welfare states, there are usually differences in levels of social and family policy protection; e.g., between the public and the private sectors, and collective agreements may complement existing national statutory family policy regulations.…”

When Does Expanded Eligibility Translate into Increased Take-Up? An Examination of Parental Leave Policy in Luxembourg

“…In addition, some studies stress the crucial role of workplaces and how managerial and collegial attitudes and the composition of the workforce influence parents' leave take-up behaviour (Allard, Haas, & Hwang, 2011;Haas & Hwang, 2019). When fathers work in male-dominated workplaces, or mothers work in femaledominated workplaces, fathers are less likely to take-up parental leave (Bygren & Duvander, 2006).…”

Attitudes about paid parental leave: Cross-national comparisons and the significance of gendered expectations, family strains, and extant leave offerings

“…Moreover, fathers who utilize leave offerings may invest more in their family life (Ferragina, 2020;Haas and Hwang, 2008;Pragg and Knoester, 2017). Despite the benefits of paid parental leave-taking for both parents, mothers take advantage of parental leave benefits more regularly than fathers--seemingly due to institutionalized offerings that are more focused on mothering as well as the related influences of gendered identities, expectations, and divisions of labor that continue to urge mothers to prioritize domestic labor and fathers to prioritize paid labor (Duvander, 2014;Haas and Hwang, 2019;Li et al, 2021).…”