Abstract
Our chapter analyses the extent to which European countries (1) recognize the caring responsibilities of fathers toward their children and (2) value fathers' caring role. To do so, we analyze the designs of individual leave policies and reflect on them by assessing available data on leave uptake by fathers in 13 European countries. Our results show that there is great variation in child-related leave designs across Europe. Our findings, in line with previous work, underscore the importance of generous individual non-transferable leave entitlements. Moreover, our findings bring forward aspects of leave designs that are rarely discussed when considering fathers' leave uptake. Our results indicate that generous non-transferable leave rights should be paired with (a) clearly defined leave periods for fathers, (b) individual entitlement to benefits, and (c) greater scope for flexibility to increase the attractiveness of child-related leave and to strengthen fathers' position when negotiating their childcare leave.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Palgrave Handbook of Family Policy |
| Chapter | 15 |
| Pages | 369-395 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9783030546182 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Dec 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding information:The present study was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO MaGW VIDI; grant no. 452-17-005) and by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC StG; grant no. 757210).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
Research programs
- ESSB PA