Parental leave
Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctly from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave" to describe separate family leave available to either parent to care for their own children. In some countries and jurisdictions, "family leave" also includes leave provided to care for ill family members. Often, the minimum benefits and eligibility requirements are stipulated by law.
Unpaid parental or family leave is provided when an employer is required to hold an employee's job while that employee is taking leave. Paid parental or family leave provides paid time off work to care for or make arrangements for the welfare of a child or dependent family member. The three most common models of funding are government-mandated social insurance/social security, employer liability, and mixed policies that combine both social security and employer liability.
Parental leave has been available as a legal right or governmental program for many years in one form or another. In 2014, the International Labour Organization reviewed parental leave policies in 185 countries and territories, and found that all countries except Papua New Guinea have laws mandating some form of parental leave. A different study showed that of 186 countries examined, 96% offered some pay to mothers during leave, but only 44% of those countries offered the same for fathers. The Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and the United States are the only seven countries in the United Nations that do not require employers to provide paid time off for new parents. Private employers sometimes provide either or both unpaid and paid parental leave outside of or in addition to any legal mandate.
Research has linked paid parental leave to better health outcomes for children, as well as mothers.
Parental leave uptake
Peer effects
Research has demonstrated that the duration of parental leave among individuals is influenced by peer behaviour. For example, if a mother notices a coworker opting for a longer parental leave, the probability of her to also increase their maternity leave increases. Welteke and Worhlich article found that expectant mothers who had peers taking parental leave of longer than ten months were thirty percent more likely to also take more than ten months off compared to expectant parents whose peers took a shorter leave. The influence of peer effects is not solely present to expectant mothers but also fathers. Research in Norway found that expectant fathers were 11 percent more likely to take paternity leave if they witnessed their coworkers use this benefit. In addition to coworkers, expectant fathers were 15 percent more likely to use paternity leave if their brother also used the program. Dahl et al., research additionally found a snowball effect occurring in workplaces where fathers using paternity leave.This means with every additional coworker using benefits of parental leave in the office, the likelihood of others to also use the program benefits.There are competing arguments to why peers have an influence to the duration of paternal leave of an expecting parent. The first hypothesis stems from mothers learning from their peers about parental leave programs they were previously unaware of. This increase in awareness would lead to more mothers using parental leave for a longer duration. A competing hypothesis states that when coworkers increase their pregnancy leave, there becomes a change in the social norms of that workplace. This phenomenon is known as "herd behaviour" in which an alteration of the traditional habits in the workplace shifted the behaviour of the employees.
Uptake of parental leave for fathers
Several factors influence the uptake of parental leave by expectant fathers. For example, research has found that fathers who had a secondary education were 28% more likely to take parental leave programs longer than fathers who did not receive secondary education. Furthermore, fathers with a tertiary education were 67% more likely to take parental leave of longer than two months than dads with secondary education.Additionally, the income levels of fathers have been noted to influence the uptake of fathers' parental leave. Low-income fathers are less likely to use parental leave, and if they did take off time, it is shorter in duration compared to fathers with a higher income. The discrepancies between the two demographics may be due to fathers with lower incomes being restricted by personal finances. Fathers in heterosexual relationships are even less likely to take parental leave if the mother is a low earner herself. The mother's low income positively correlates with the father taking little to no parental leave. This may be due to the father wanting the mother to take longer leave or other factors; such as the pressure to provide for the household financially.
Research in Sweden found that foreign-born fathers are less likely to partake in parental leave than Swedish-born fathers. The authors have theorized that this result might reflect greater instability of labour markets for first-generation migrants. Additionally, there is a greater likelihood for first-generation immigrants to lack access to information concerning parental leave can contribute to the decrease in uptake from this demographic.
Another aspect that influences the uptake of parental leave is gender dynamics at home and work. In households with a positive association between fatherhood involvement and egalitarian values, the father use of parental leave is increased. Workplace environments that promote parental leave for fathers as essential create a greater likelihood of these dads taking parental leave for a longer duration. In contrast, a workplace culture that views paternal leave as an indicator of poor work habits and as "feminine" causes fathers in that environment to be less likely to participate in parental leave. In Australia it has been argued, by Georgie Dent, that the uptake of parental leave by fathers could enable the workforce participation of women, leading to improved economic outcomes for families as well as the country.
Eligibility and uptake of parental leave for mothers
The eligibility and uptake of parental leave programs are not consistent among all demographics of expecting mothers. In most European countries, parental leave is granted to parents, usually after maternity and paternity leave. In some countries, parental leave has more restrictive requirements than maternity leave or paternity leave.Research by Marynissen, Wood and Neels found that 26.37% of mothers in Belgium are not eligible for parental leave. This is due to the employment-based eligibility criteria present with the country's parental leave program. By using an employment-based measure, scholars have noted that this creates barriers for currently unemployed mothers to receive an opportunity to take more time off looking for a job and care for their child. Another limitation present with employment-based criteria is that in some countries self-employed individuals are not eligible for certain parental benefits. For example, in Belgium, a self-employed woman receives a maternity leave that is shorter and lower paid than an employed woman; and does not receive parental leave. There are also a certain number of hours an employee must meet before being eligible for employment-based parental leave. These various factors limit access to parental care for expecting mothers. Expecting parents who are the most affected by these criteria are usually younger, single, less educated or from migrant backgrounds.
In addition to discrepancies present in eligibility, there is variation among expecting mothers who use parental leave benefits. For example, research performed by Kil, Wood and Neels found that native-born Belgian women had higher uptake of parental programs in comparison to first-generation Belgian citizens from Turkey and Morocco, whose uptake was relatively low. The difference in uptake can be attributed to factors such as the flexibility of the parental leave, culture of the workplace, cultural ideals of paid leave, not knowing about the program itself and other normative factors that influenced the use of paid leave.
Research has found that mothers in same-sex relationships are less likely to uptake parental leave than mothers in different-sex relationships. Evertsson and Boye found that birth mothers in same-sex relationships, on average, took seven weeks less parental leave than birth mothers in different-sex relationships. The authors reference that gender norms result in the difference between parental uptake duration between birth mothers in same-sex relationships compared to different-sex relationships.
Eligibility of parental leave for same sex couples
Eligibility of parental leave for same sex couples depends on numerous factors: on adoption policies.According to a study that examined policies in 34 OECD countries, in nineteen of these countries, same sex female couples received the same amount of parental leave benefits as different sex couples.
For same-sex male couples, four countries provided the same duration of parental leave as different sex couples. Therefore, twenty-nine OECD countries provided a shorter period of parental leave and fewer benefits for same-sex male parents. In addition, some countries, such as Turkey and Israel, provided no parental leave benefits or paid leave for the expectant male parents.
The reason for discrepancies in parental leave between same-sex and different-sex couples is theorized to have several different explanations, usually related to who can be a legal parent. One factor affecting parental leave duration for same-sex couples is the restrictive language found in parental leave policies. The study found that some parental leave policies only referred to heterosexual couples and did not include same-sex couples in the legislation, leading to increased barriers for same-sex parents to receive paid leave. Another significant barrier comes when same-sex couples try adopting their child. In 15 of the 34 OECD countries examined, same sex couples cannot legally adopt a child together. In these countries, same-sex couples may have one person in the relationship adopt their child as a single parent. Only one parent will be provided parental or adoption-related leave through this adoption strategy. While there is an option of second-parent adoption in some of these 15 countries, the process of a second adoption is costly and time-consuming- creating potential barriers that restrict the same-sex couple from pursuing this procedure. In some countries, same-sex parents can only be formed through a birth mother in a lesbian relation, so the second mother does not receive leave.