Leave policies in Southern Europe: continuities and changes

Abstract

This contribution addresses the challenge of reviewing Southern European welfare states by analysing how developments in leave policies are generating common or divergent trends across Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. These societies offer a mixture of family patterns and family policies. Over the last decade they have developed significant work–family arrangements both in terms of parental leave and early education childcare services. The four countries have been moving in the direction of longer paid leave and the promotion of paternal leave, allowing for family diversity and new gender-equality incentives. Besides these common trends, the four countries also reveal differences enabling them to shift towards alternative leave models, such as the one-year gender-equality-oriented model or the choice-oriented leave model. However, for the time being, taking into account take-up rates and the impact of the economic crisis, the four countries conform to what we have characterised as an ‘extensible early return to work’ leave model. Leave policies are reviewed in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain mainly between 2004 and 2014, drawing on data from the Annual Reviews of the Leave Policies and Research Network, Eurostat and the OECD Family Database.

En este artículo se aborda el reto de examinar los estados de bienestar del Sur de Europa, mediante el análisis del desarrollo de las políticas de licencias parentales en Portugal, España, Italia y Grecia. Estas sociedades ofrecen una combinación de modelos familiares y de articulación entre vida laboral y familiar. En la última década se han desarrollado significativamente los usos y políticas tanto de licencias parentales como de servicios de atención y educación infantil. Los cuatro países han experimentado una extensión de los periodos de licencia parental retribuida y del uso paterno de estos dispositivos, generando nuevos incentivos para la igualdad de género. Además de estas tendencias comunes, los cuatro países revelan importantes diferencias entre ellos, que les permitirían evolucionar hacia modelos alternativos de políticas de licencias parentales, tales como el ‘modelo de un año de licencia parental bien retribuida orientado a la igualdad de género’, o el ‘modelo de licencia parental orientado a la elección entre distintos modos de crianza’. Sin embargo, dado el impacto de la crisis económica y el uso de las licencias parentales, de momento los cuatro países se ajustan a lo que hemos caracterizado como ‘modelo de licencia parental extensible orientado a la pronta reincorporación al trabajo’, dotando a los progenitores de más opciones para alargar las licencias parentales ya sea a tiempo completo o parcial. Se analiza la evolución de las licencias parentales en Grecia, Italia, Portugal y España, principalmente entre 2004 y 2014, a partir de los Anuarios de la Red internacional de Investigación sobre Políticas de Licencias Parentales, datos de Eurostat y de la base de datos sobre Familia de la OCDE.

Keywords:

• parental leave
• leave models
• work–family
• gender equality
• Southern Europe
• welfare states

Palabras claves:

• licencias parentales
• modelos de políticas de licencias parentales
• conciliación laboral y familiar
• igualdad de género
• Sur de Europa
• Estados de bienestar

Notes on contributors

Anna Escobedo, PhD in Sociology, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Organisational Analysis of the University of Barcelona (UB). Her research focuses on comparative social policy, family and social change, with emphasis on the work-life balance; the relationship between formal and informal work; care work and care services. She is founder member and regular contributor to the Annual Reviews of the International Network on Leave Policies and Research (LP&R).

Karin Wall, PhD in Sociology, is Research Professor at the Institute for Social Sciences, University of Lisbon (ICS-UL). She coordinates the Observatory on Families and Family Policies at ICS and has worked since 1995 as an expert on family policies in Europe. Her research focuses on family policies, changing family forms and interactions, family and the lifecourse, migrant families, gender and the conjugal divisions of paid and unpaid work. She is currently conducting comparative cross-national research on parental leave policies, men's changing roles and identities in family life, and the impact of the crisis on public policies affecting families and children's lives.