The Nordic Model of Father Quotas in Leave Policies: A Case of Policy Transfer?

Abstract

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.

Public Policy to Reduce Inequalities across Europe

“…Indeed, Nordic countries have produced a number of distinctive policies aimed at reducing gender inequalities that have been studied and (comprehensively or partially) transferred by many other states. This is the case, for example, with shared parental leave (Karu and Tremblay, 2018;Windwehr et al, 2021;von Wahl, 2021: 18), feminist foreign policy (Zhukova et al, 2021), the criminalization of the purchase of sexual services (Kingston and Thomas, 2019), and approaches to GM itself (Mazey, 2002: 230;Daly, 2005).…”

Culture and Policy Transfer: From Insight to Impact

“…Significantly, many studies emphasize the differences between Western and non-Western culture and their influence on policy transfer (Common, 2017; Minogue, 2002; Turner, 2002). Culture that is inherent to a particular groups of countries is also investigated, such as Anglosphere culture (Halligan, 2015; Legrand, 2021), Nordic culture (Windwehr et al, 2021), or Confucian culture (Lim and Horesh, 2016; Ortmann and Thompson, 2014). Ashmore et al (2018) identify four cultural clusters—Anglo, Nordic, Confucian, and South Asian—with various influences on policy transfer.…”

Successful Public Policy in the Nordic Countries

“…Swedish child vaccination policy, for instance, served as an exemplary model, guiding joint efforts by the Red Cross and UNICEF to develop children's vaccination against tuberculosis in post-war Europe. Similarly, the reserved months policy in parental leave schemes has been depicted as one of Sweden's and Iceland's major policy exports as many other countries have followed suit (Windwehr et al 2021) Another example is how other countries have taken Norway's lead on the issue of gender quotas on corporate boards. Yet another example is the Danish model of pension reform, which is now being emulated in other Nordic countries (see Kvist and von Nordheim this volume).…”

“…Moreover, the reserved months period has been extended twice since its introduction (Cedstrand 2011). It is also one of Sweden's major policy exports in that many countries have taken on similar policies (Windwehr et al 2021). Lingering opposition to reserving time for each parent in the parental leave is weak and located mainly at the socially conservative part of the political spectrum.…”

“…It was in this context, with a changed political debate and discourse concerning the question of gender relations and gender equality, that the proposition of the reserved month, after 20 years of ongoing debate, was put forth by a Liberal-Conservative government in 1993 and realized in 1994. Even if it was not referred to often in the Swedish debate at the time it should be mentioned that Norway decided on a similar daddy quota (fedrekvote) in the year 1993 and was thus earlier than Sweden (Windwehr et al 2021).…”