Leave policies in Southern Europe: continuities and changes

Abstract

This contribution addresses the challenge of reviewing Southern European welfare states by analysing how developments in leave policies are generating common or divergent trends across Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. These societies offer a mixture of family patterns and family policies. Over the last decade they have developed significant work-family arrangements both in terms of parental leave and early education childcare services. The four countries have been moving in the direction of longer paid leave and the promotion of paternal leave, allowing for family diversity and new gender-equality incentives. Besides these common trends, the four countries also reveal differences enabling them to shift towards alternative leave models, such as the one-year gender-equality-oriented model or the choice-oriented leave model. However, for the time being, taking into account take-up rates and the impact of the economic crisis, the four countries conform to what we have characterised as an 'extensible early return to work' leave model. Leave policies are reviewed in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain mainly between 2004 and 2014, drawing on data from the Annual Reviews of the Leave Policies and Research Network, Eurostat and the OECD Family Database.

The impact of the crisis and austerity on low educated working women: The cases of Spain and Portugal

“…However, while in Portugal dual‐breadwinner families in which both partners work full‐time have become the norm, in Spain male breadwinner families and modified versions have remained important. In 2008, 73 per cent of Portuguese families with children were dual‐earner families but this percentage was approximately 54 per cent in Spain and, while the percentage of dual‐earner families in which one of the parents worked part‐time in Portugal was just 7 per cent, this proportion in Spain was 17 per cent (Escobedo & Wall, ). Despite these differences, there had been significant convergence between the countries in the period that preceded the crisis.…”

Father’s involvement and parenting styles in Portuguese families. The role of education and working hours

“…In the last few decades the gender dynamics and familial roles have shifted; principally due to political and economic changes, with increased participation of women in the workforce outside of the home (Cabrera, Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth, & Lamb, 2000). Although the traditional 'male breadwinner and housewife' dichotomy remains a Portuguese family pattern, it is no longer viewed as the ideal, being often associated with low educational levels and lack of employment opportunities (Escobedo & Wall, 2015). It should be noted that Portugal is one of the EU countries with the highest number of women with preschool aged children who are working full time outside of the home (Aboim, 2010).…”

“…Parents with children under 12 years may choose when to start and finish daily work, as long as the normal weekly hours of work are fulfilled; one of the parents (or both for alternative periods of time) is entitled to part-time work after taking Additional Parental leave that can be extended up to two years (Wall & Leitão, 2015). Portuguese leave policy implies an early return to full-time work model, supporting fulltime dual earner parents and associated higher levels of maternal employment rates and growing availability of full-time day care services (Escobedo & Wall, 2015).…”

Parental Leave in Spain: Use, Motivations and Implications

“…Nonetheless, the extension in 2017 of fully paid paternity leave from 2 to 4 weeks forms part of a trend to lengthen the duration of leaves available to fathers. Further to the typology developed by Wall and Escobedo (2013), which also takes the characteristics of childcare and the mother's employment into consideration, Spain has evolved in recent years from the 'short leave modified breadwinner model' to an 'extensive early return to work model' (Escobedo and Wall, 2015).…”

“…Studies on leave to care for children in Spain have engaged primarily in comparative analyses of its evolution with respect to other European countries (Iglesias de Ussel and Meil, 2001;Escobedo and Wall, 2015) and in inquiries into the scope of the various types of leaves and their conditioning factors. Particular research has addressed paternity leave (Romero-Balsas, 2012;Flaquer and Escobedo, 2014;Escot et al, 2014, Fernández-Cornejo andPoza, 2014;Meil, 2017), unpaid full-time parental leave (Lapuerta, Baizán and González, 2011;Romero-Balsas et al, 2013, Muntanyola-Saura andRogero-García, 2013), part-time parental leave (Lapuerta et al, 2011) and men's use of maternal leave (Escot et al, 2012, Fernández-Cornejo, Lafuente andPoza, 2012;Meil et al, 2017b, Romero-Balsas andRogero-García, 2017b).…”