This contribution asks whether the most recent innovation of Nordic family policies, the so-called father quota, has been an object of policy learning in countries that followed the Nordic example of leave policies earlier, such as Germany, Slovenia, and Japan. Our case studies show that analyses of policy learning, especially in the social field, need to take into account the specific contexts and actor constellations in “export” and “import” countries. Rather than representing a blueprint, the Nordic father quotas have served as an inspiration within messy and fragmented processes of policy learning leading to hybrid arrangements in import countries.

In April 2020, a survey was conducted among Slovenian military families, being one of the first surveys to be carried out in the country after the outbreak of the pandemic. The military was labeled a crucial institution in the efforts to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus and was appointed to various activities, leading to a considerable increase in its workload. The burden of care and unpaid work at that time also intensified, becoming shifted onto the military family, particularly civilian female spouses. The survey’s purpose was to measure how military families evaluated their success in balancing between working from home, household work, childcare, and home schooling during the pandemic lockdown. The risk factors were observed on the micro (i.e., lack of extended family support, institutional childcare, and school lockdown) and macro (i.e., military support, national support measures) social levels. The analysis reveals that when it comes to military families the greatest price has been paid by female civilian spouses. The number of children and their age influence parents’ self-evaluation of their success with work–life balance. The results show that big families and families with primary school children have been struggling the most during the lockdown. Surprisingly, dual-serving families felt the most successful.

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The paper analyzes changes in the gendered division of family labour and the recent phenomenon of active fatherhood in Slovenia. Based on qualitative empirical evidence, the authors argue that changes in the relocation of care between women and men in family life arc significant in the values and expectations of individuals rather than in practices. Gender inequality in family labour is not seen only in the allocation of domestic work and childcare as such, but also in the allocation ofresponsibilities, strategies of negotiation etc. This means that women usually take over the organisation imd management of the home, study and the carrying out of domestic work. This holds important practical and symbolic consequences that are addressed in the paper. Within the division of family labour, several changes are observed in parenting where in particular the emotional part of caring has become the domain of both parents. The article focuses especially on changes in the paternal role and the consequences for the gendered division of labour within the family. The so-called new or active fatherhood in Slovenia is chiefly present in the form of a supp011ing paternal role, which strengthens and maintains the position of motherhood and mothering as the primary family role, and puts the fathering role in a secondary, supportive position. Consequently, active fatherhood is not directly connected with a more equal division of labour or even the notion of gender equality. The authors discuss social contexts, subjective and structural factors/obstacles to changes in the gendered division of family labour in Slovenia.