Gender Equality

Just as women’s roles have expanded in recent decades beyond caregiving in the private sphere into the public sphere of work, men’s roles as caregivers have been evolving as well. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans support not just paid maternity leave, but paid paternity leave, though support is much stronger among younger Americans than those over 65, by 82 to 55 percent. And 71 percent say it’s important for new babies to have equal bonding time with their mothers and fathers.

Yet the median length of leave for fathers in the U.S. is about one week (compared to 11 weeks for mothers). Seven in 10 men reported taking two weeks or less off work after the birth or adoption of a child. Nearly two-thirds wished they’d had more time. As many as 20 percentof U.S. companies do not comply with the Family Medical Leave Act and offer leave to fathers, compared to 7 percent for mothers. Internationally, 70 countries provide paid paternity or shared parental leave. Paid leave for men averages just over eight weeks in OECD member states, with 13 countries reserving three months or more for fathers. Japan and Korea reserve as much as 12 months.

Although there is little research on the caregiving experience of men, the length of paid leave and its impacts, some studies have found that men taking caregiving leave of adequate duration and wage replacement is associated with reduced family stress, improved gender equality,and more involved parenting, which can lead to better social, emotional, cognitive and health outcomes for children, as well as healthier, more stable relationships with partners.

• Paternal health: One quantitative survey in Sweden found that men who were on parental leave for 30 to 60 days had a 25 percent reduced mortality risk compared to men who did not take leave. However, men with more education, status, and income—factors that are often associated with better health—also tend to take longer paid leaves than working class men.
• Involved fathering: Studies in Iceland, where in 2012, 92 percent of fathers took paid parental leave lasting an average of 87 days, found that the longer fathers are on leave, the more likely they are to say they have a better understanding of a child’s needs and how much work it is to care for a child, and that their enjoyment of caring for, their emotional attachment to and participation in the caring for a child increases in the short and long term. Other studies have found that when fathers take leaves of two weeks or more, they’re more likely to be involved in direct child care nine months after birth, and more hands-on throughout a child’s life
• Gender equality: The wage gap noticeably widens when women have children, as policy, workplace practice, and traditional gender expectations of the male breadwinner and female caregiver lead to women being primarily responsible for housework and child care, even when working full time—what sociologist Arlie Hochschild called the “second shift.” Research suggests that the ability for women to return to work after having a child at the same wage, as well as not losing income during time off, could help close the gap. A 2016 analysis suggests New Jersey’s state paid leave policy has helped close its gender wage gap between women and men. When men take leave, women are not only more likely to return to work, but earn more. One study in Sweden found that every month a father stays on paid parental leave has a larger positive effect on a mother’s earnings than if she’d reduced her leave by the same amount.

When countries initially expanded maternity leave to include parental leave or paternity leave, few men took paternity leave and women tended to take all parental leave, further reinforcing traditional gender roles. Studies, particularly in Iceland and Quebec, which have “use it or lose it“ paid leave “daddy quotas” for men—12 weeks in Iceland, 5 weeks in Quebec—suggest that policies that provide adequate wage replacement and actively encourage men to take longer leaves disrupt traditional norms and lead to greater gender equality at work and at home in the long run. For instance, in Iceland, before the “daddy quota,” mothers did the majority of child care at a child’s birth, and were still doing the bulk of the caring when the child turned three. After the quota, 70 percent of married and cohabiting couples were equally sharing child care by the child’s third year.

Beyond the wage gap, research has found that mothers suffer additional penalties in the workplace: simply becoming a mother changes assumptions others have regarding her commitment and even competence. That could change, Taryn Morrissey argues, “if both mothers and fathers took paid leave and were viewed as being equally committed to family, and work.”