Quite an encumbrance? Work-related obstacles to Finnish fathers’ take-up of parental leave

ABSTRACT

An ideal of involved fatherhood has become popular in the developed countries, but even countries like Finland that have introduced an individual father’s quota to parental leave are far from gender equality in parents’ leave practices. Lack of support and negative attitudes at workplaces or pressure at work are among the obstacles to fathers’ leave take-up. The study used survey data from fathers and interviews at workplaces to explore the role of work and workplaces among the many aspects related to fathers’ possibilities of taking leave. The results showed that fathers’ income and workplace characteristics were associated with taking leave. Few fathers mentioned employers’ objection as a hinder. Father’s recent unemployment and anticipated difficulty of taking a long time off played a more important role. At workplaces, the obstacles to taking long leave were related to fathers’ ideals about a committed worker and to the nature and organizing of work. Additionally, the leave exceeding fathers’ quota might not be understood as ‘for fathers’. The spouse’s situation and fathers’ gendered perceptions about parental responsibilities were also important for leave practices. The findings suggest that policy development towards a longer father’s quota could make fathers’ care responsibilities visible also at workplaces.

RESUMÉ

Un idéal de paternité engagée est devenu populaire dans les pays développés, mais même les pays comme Finlande, qui ont introduit un quota individualisé de congé parental pour les pères, sont loin de l’égalité quant aux pratiques de congé entre les parents. Le manque de support et les attitudes négatives dans les lieux de travail ou la précipitation dans le travail sont parmi les obstacles à la prise du congé par les pères. Avec un questionnaire aux pères et les entretiens dans des entreprises, cette enquête étudiait le rôle de l’emploi et des entreprises entre de nombreux aspects qui s’associent aux possibilités des pères de prendre du congé. Les résultats montraient que les revenues du père ainsi que les caractéristiques de son emploi s’associaient à la prise du congé. Peu de pères nommaient l’opposition de l’employeur comme un empêchement. Le chômage récent du père et la difficulté anticipée d’une longue absence jouaient un rôle plus important. Dans les entreprises, les obstacles à la prise d’un longue congé étaient liés aux idéaux des pères concernant un travailleur engagé ainsi qu’au caractère et à l’organisation du travail. D’ailleurs, le congé qui excède le quota paternel peut être conçu comme pas ‘pour les pères’. Même la situation de l’épouse et les conceptions genrées du père vis-à-vis des responsabilités parentales étaient important pour les pratiques de congé. Les résultats indiquent que le développement de la politique vers un plus longue quota paternel pourrait rendre visible les responsabilités des pères à l’égard du soin des enfants aussi dans les lieux de travail.

KEYWORDS:

• Fathers
• parental leave
• father’s quota
• workplaces
• organizational culture

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Pères
• congé parental
• quota paternel
• lieux de travail
• culture organisationnelle

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Johanna Närvi, PhD, is Senior Researcher in the Social policy research unit at National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland. Her research interests include work–family interface and family policy from a gender perspective, with particular emphasis on parental leave, parents and workplaces.

Minna Salmi, PhD, is Research Manager at National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland. She has family policy, gender equality policy, working life and well-being of families with children as her fields of speciality. Her research interests lie in the interconnections of the different policy areas with people’s everyday life. She has written on work–family balancing, parental leave and family policy outcomes in Finland, and on child poverty and well-being of children and their families. Her publications include ‘Policy goals and obstacles for fathers’ parental leave in Finland’ in G. B. Eydal & T. Rostgaard (eds.) Fatherhood in the Nordic Welfare States, 2015 (with Johanna Lammi-Taskula), ‘Job quality, Work– Family Tensions and Well-being: The Finnish case’ in S. Drobnič & A. M. Guillén (eds.) Work–Life Balance in Europe. The Role of Job Quality, 2011 (with Johanna Lammi-Taskula), and ‘Parental choice and the passion for equality in Finland’ in A. L. Ellingsæter & A. Leira (eds.) Politicising parenthood in Scandinavia: Gender relations in welfare states, 2006.

Notes

1. Since 2013, the paternity leave and the father’s month were combined under a new paternity leave of the same total length but with more flexibility in use. For details and changes of the Finnish leave schemes see www.leavenetwork.org/lp_and_r_reports/country_reports/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Finnish Work Environment Fund (Työsuojelurahasto) under grant 112282.