Why Don’t Men Take Paid Family Leave?

By far, the majority of respondents, regardless of political party, agreed that the main reason men don’t take leave is because they can’t afford it. Democrats are more likely than Republicans and Independents to believe men don’t take leave because their partner will take leave instead or they lack supportive environments, even so these reasons came in as the second and third major reasons men don’t take leave.

The stand-out reason people believe men don’t take leave is because men can’t afford it. Respondents from the two major parties exhibited remarkable unity in that almost three-quarters of Democrats (74 percent) and Republicans (72 percent) identified this as a major reason, compared to just over half of Independents (56 percent). Compared to this economic factor, respondents were much less likely to identify gender norms, unsupportive environments, and personal choice as major reasons, by differences of up to 48 percentage points. Although the majority of respondents across party lines believed that men take time off to care because it’s the right thing to do (as shown by the previous section of this report), practical financial constraints keep men from being able to take leave from work for care responsibilities.

Almost half of Democrats (46 percent) believe that cultural or professional penalties contribute to why men do not take leave as well, believing that men are less likely to take leave when they see other men being penalized for taking leave. Closer to a third of Republicans (38 percent) and Independents (32 percent) say this is a major reason men don’t take leave.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say a major reason why men don’t take leave is because men don’t think they need to because their partner or other family members are taking leave, but fewer than half of all three groups identify this as a major reason (47 percent of Democrats versus 38 percent Republicans and 27 percent of Independents identify this as a major reason men do not take leave).

Democrats and Republicans are both more likely than Independents to say that not wanting to be a caregiver for others is a reason why men don’t take leave, with 40 percent of Democrats, 34 percent of Republicans, and 27 percent of Independents agreeing to this reason. Independents are more likely than either Democrats or Republicans to dismiss “not wanting to be a caregiver” as a reason why men don’t take leave.

As previously noted, Democrats are more likely to attribute positive support systems as reasons men take leave. They are also more likely to say that lack of support is a major reason men do not take leave. Thirty percent of Democrats believe this is a major reason, compared to 22 percent of Independents and 20 percent of Republicans. Thirty-one percent of Democrats say that other men not taking leave is a major reason men do not take leave, with 23 percent of Republicans believing this is a major reason and 19 percent of Independents agreeing as well.

Finally, while not being seen as manly was the least common reason people said men do not take leave, Democrats were more likely than Republicans and Independents to say it was a major reason men do not take leave from work to care for others. Twenty-six percent of Democrats compared to 18 percent of Republicans and 15 percent of Independents said men do not take leave because they think it is not manly. The data suggests that men not taking leave to care for a family member has more to do with financial arguments than internalized opinions on gender and caregiving.