Conclusion

Our study suggests that given the economic pressures, time strains, and shifting realities many families face around work and care responsibilities, men are already taking at least some leave and anticipating taking leave in significant numbers. In our quantitative and qualitative surveys, we found only minor differences by gender in actually taking leave over the life course, and no significant differences in anticipating needing leave. Our findings suggest that enabling more men to take leave or empowering men to take leaves longer than a few days is likely more dependent on practical and logistical considerations like the availability of paid leave policies, their acceptance in workplace cultures, and support from family, than it is on focusing solely on shifting masculine norms around care. Men’s evolving role as caregivers is most widely accepted among older men with more experience of the realities of modern life and exposure to the juggle most families face combining work and caregiving responsibilities.

Although a majority of Americans, men and women alike, believe men don’t take leave because they think men don’t think of caregiving as their responsibility, that viewpoint was by far the exception in our focus groups. Most men took as much leave as they felt they could afford or felt they could justify at work without facing negative repercussions.

Only one respondent in our focus groups said he didn’t take leave because he “didn’t need to” when his children were born, because his mother and mother-in-law were around to help his wife. In most cases, men reported needing or wanting to take leave, but were concerned about how to access it, how to pay for it, that they’d fall behind at work, or that they’d face negative repercussions.

Most men took as much leave as they felt they could afford or felt they could justify at work without facing negative repercussions.

Men overwhelmingly told us that they were grateful to have been able to take time off from work. They also expressed anger and even guilt when they were unable to do so or were forced to take less time off than they would have liked for financial or other work-related reasons.

A majority of Americans believe economic pressures are a key driver behind why men don’t take leave, and the data bear that out, with men in higher-income groups much more likely to have access to and take paid caregiving leave than men in lower-income groups.

Men are less likely to take leave than women, but when they do, it’s more likely to be paid than unpaid. Women who have taken leave are less likely than men to have reported receiving some pay during the course of their leave, and are much more likely to take leave even if it’s unpaid. This finding suggests a gender difference in leave-taking versus paid work when men and women are forced to choose between the two, with women taking leave while men continue with their paid work.

Our findings as a whole illustrate the competing pressures men in the United States face. On the one hand, breadwinning, adhering to “ideal worker” norms, and “being manly,” are all expectations that appear to persist for men and fathers. Yet on the other hand, men want to take leave, anticipate needing leave, and appear engaged in caregiving across the life cycle.

The lesson to policymakers seeking to craft policies designed to support working families and encourage more equal caregiving leave uptake across the life course are clear. If policymakers hope to see gender and economic equity outcomes from enacting paid leave policies, policies must be designed to encourage men to take leave following the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for a family member. To accomplish this, any paid leave policy must include financial remuneration men will consider adequate to compensate for their time off from work.

Workplaces, too, have an important role to play in whether men feel they can choose to take time to provide care for their families. Our findings suggest that men’s behavior surrounding leave is not just the result of access through a policy, but is also influenced by the support they receive for using leave from their managers and coworkers. Workplaces must create supportive environments that accommodate and normalize workers’ caregiving responsibilities, regardless of gender, and recognize that caregiving needs extend far beyond parenthood: workers anticipate needing time to care not only for children, but also for themselves and other family members and loved ones, particularly as parents age.

American values around men and caregiving have evolved tremendously in recent decades. American men today are participating in caregiving in significant ways, with benefits to themselves, their families, and U.S. society more broadly. But simply asking men to step up to care without the policy and workplace support that can make that participation possible will have limited impact. It’s time for our policy structures and work culture to catch up with them.