Sharing the caring : State, family and gender equality in parental leave policy

Abstract

Parental leave policies give parents a temporary leave from employment in order to care for a child. Secondary aims are to increase women's attachment to the labour force as well as supporting gender equal roles in paid and unpaid work. This study researched parent satisfaction of parental leave policies in the United States of America and the Netherlands. Mothers and fathers were individually interviewed face to face regarding satisfaction with family leave polices, if and why they did or did not use them, and how parental leave impacted divisions of paid and unpaid labour. The U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act was found to be unhelpful to parents mostly becuase it is unpaid. U.S. single mothers suffer the most due to a lack of paid parental leave, lack of adequate child care, and parent / gender discrimination at the workplace. Dutch parents are generally satisfied with their parental leave (paid maternity, paternity, and care leave); Dutch part-time parity laws as well as the right to reduce working hours have also been helpful. Dutch parents score significantly higher on Quality of Life measures. But organizational culture continues to assume the single male breadwinner norm which leads to gender discrimination at the workplace; this continues to reinforce traditional gender divisions in paid and unpaid work.