Balancing the Scales: Negotiating Father's Parental Leave Use

Abstract

Studying couples who shared parental leave presents the opportunity to explore decision-making processes that may challenge conventional care arrangement typical of early parenthood. Interviews with 33 Canadian heterosexual couples indicate gendered sticking points in the division of official leave time. Whether fathers took leave because of their personal desires or material circumstances, this study finds that men and women did not enter negotiations on a level playing field. Strong cultural support for mothers'-but not fathers'-time with baby tipped the scales toward maternal care giving, even when couples wanted to share parental leave. Nevertheless, financial considerations such as a man's topped-up pay or woman's career could lessen the weight of mothers' moral entitlement to the leave time by presenting couples with an alternative logic on which to base their decision making.

Why Is Part-time Unpaid Parental Leave (Still) Gendered? Narratives and Strategies of Couples in Spain

“…This fact has also been identified in Spain by González and Jurado (2015). Consistent with other scholars (Beglaubter, 2017;Deutsch, 2007;Fernandez-Lozano, 2019;Holter, 2007), these authors found that active fathers conform to the following two different profiles: those who are involved as a result of a personal commitment to gender egalitarianism and those who are involved as a result of their circumstances (i.e., unemployment or a less-demanding job).…”

“…Job conditions, such as working hours, flexibility, job stability, and income may facilitate or hinder parents’ use of unpaid parental leave. For example, the use of leave by other coworkers (Beglaubter, 2017; Lapuerta et al, 2011), an employer’s positive attitude (Bygren & Duvander, 2006; Crompton, 2006), working in a family-friendly environment (Escot et al, 2012) or larger companies (Zhelyazkova & Ritschard, 2018) and working in the public sector (Beglaubter, 2017; Escot et al, 2014; Lammi-Taskula, 2008) are factors positively related to parental leave use. However, organizational barriers affect men to a greater extent than women (Duvander, 2014).…”

Paternity Leave and Fathers' Responsibility: Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Canada

“…Second, time diaries in the GSS only provide information about one respondent per household. As such, this study cannot speak to the household‐ and family‐level dynamics, such as negotiations between couples regarding leave‐taking (Beglaubter, ; McKay & Doucet, ) or the share of caregiving tasks and responsibilities. Future research could explore how mothers' involvement in caregiving is shifted by fathers' leave‐taking and early involvement in caregiving.…”

“…In contrast, reserved or "use it or lose it" leave policies result in higher uptake and longer leaves for fathers (Margolis et al, 2019;O'Brien, 2009). Reserved paternity leave, especially if it is generous, provides economic incentives that may help displace normative gender expectations with financial logic (Beglaubter, 2017;Gangl & Ziefle, 2015;McKay & Doucet, 2010). These policies can also help lessen stigma around leave-taking by giving fathers a publicly legitimated bargaining tool with employers (Harvey and Tremblay, 2018;McKay & Doucet, 2010).…”

“…Leave policies can incentivize fathers' leave‐taking behaviors in two ways: first, by diminishing the constraining role of gender as a structure operating at individual, interactional, and institutional levels (Risman, ); and second, by financially incentivizing fathers given their competing role as economic providers. Gender‐neutral leave (or shared parental leave) that can be shared between both parents is rarely taken by fathers (Haas & Rostgaard, ; Margolis, Hou, Haan, & Holm, ) due to the “logic of gendered choices” (Risman, , p. 29); fathers are reluctant to take away mothers' time with children due to cultural pressures around the centrality of mothering (Beglaubter ; McKay & Doucet, ; Petts et al, ). In contrast, reserved or “use it or lose it” leave policies result in higher uptake and longer leaves for fathers (Margolis et al, ; O'Brien, ).…”