Why Do Men Take Paid Family Leave?

Across party lines, the top reason men take leave is because people believe it is the right thing to do—with Democrats and Republicans more likely to say that is a major reason than Independents. The next most salient bipartisan reason for men taking leave was that his spouse or partner supports his taking leave.

Nearly two-thirds of Democrats and Republicans (62 percent and 61 percent, respectively) agree that a major reason they think men take leave to care for a loved one is because it is the right thing to do, compared to fewer than half of Independents (48 percent). This was the reason for taking leave that was chosen by the largest number of respondents.

Among the economic imperatives that push men to take leave, more than a third of adults say a man’s partner’s need or desire to continue working is a major reason for taking leave, with significant differences among all of the party identifications (47 percent of Democrats versus 38 percent of Republicans versus 31 percent of Independents). Over a third of Democrats (37 percent) and Republicans (35 percent) cite the partner’s greater earning potential as a major reason men take leave, compared to 24 percent of Independents.

The second most chosen reason for taking leave was a supportive environment at home. Over half of Democrats and Republicans (58 percent and 53 percent, respectively) identified spouse, partner, or family support for taking leave as a major reason for men taking leave. Significantly fewer Independents (42 percent) identified this as a major reason.

Supportive work environments also appear to encourage men to take leave, although there was nearly a 30 percentage point difference in the numbers of participants choosing reasons related to the work environment compared to taking leave being the right thing to do. In general, Democrats were significantly more likely than Republicans and Independents to identify these as major reasons: managers at his work encourage employees to take leave (34 Percent of Democrats, compared to 28 percent of Republicans and 24 percent of Independents); other men at work have taken leave and not been penalized (33 percent of Democrats, compared to 23 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of Independents); and leaders at his organization have taken leave (27 percent of Democrats, compared to 20 percent of Republicans and 16 percent of Independents).

One school of thought suggests that if men had more visible role models demonstrating positive leave-taking, that more men would be inspired and incentivized to take leave. While in general half of American adults think seeing public figures a man respects taking leave is either a major or minor reason men take leave, it was the least common major reason selected. Democrats (20 percent) were more likely than Republicans (14 percent) and Independents (11 percent) to believe that public figures modeling leave-using behaviors motivates men to take leave themselves.

One factor to note to better understand this data is that survey participants may have answered based on what they thought men’s perceived barriers and motivators were, rather than their own personal experiences. It’s likely that narratives in the media, experiences at home or at work, and general thoughts on gender influenced how people think about why men do or do not take leave. For each of the eight reasons this survey offered for why men might take leave, the percentage of Republicans selecting it as a major reason was in between the percentage of Democrats and the percentage of Independents selecting it as a major reason. This ordering is not consistent with a “common sense” ordering that puts Democrats and Republicans on opposite sides of an ideological continuum, with Independents in the middle between them. A reason for this could be that Independents tend to include individuals with very different perspectives across the political spectrum. Even with these differences in attitudes and beliefs, the overarching major reason men take leave from work to care for others is because they believe it is the right thing to do.