Waiting for the incentives to work: comparative analysis of the parental leave policies in the Visegrad countries

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationship between gender, employment and policy in the four ‘Visegrad’ countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Family policy in the ‘Visegrad’ countries has usually been labelled as ‘familialistic’ because of policies that favoured parental care of young children. The article aims to answer the questions: How far do current leave and childcare policies adhere to a ‘familialistic’ model, and have recent developments diluted or strengthened adherence? What are the consequences today of parenthood for women's employment? What are the possible explanations for these consequences, including the role of explicit or implicit familialism? The focus is on similarities and differences between the countries. The article shows (1) that Poland differs in some important respects (e.g. maternal employment, leave policies) from other Visegrad countries; (2) that, due to the limited availability of good quality part-time employment, parents in ‘Visegrad’ countries are not likely to use the flexible parental leave provision; (3) the obstacles (design of leave policies; gender pay gap, social attitudes) to fathers using their leave entitlements; and (4) the conflicting expectations and demands (financial necessity to earn money, social expectation to be a good mother, fulfilling professional ambitions) women are subject to.

Este articulo esta enfocado en la relación entre el género, el empleo y la política en los cuatro paises „Visegrad”: Republica Checa, Hungria, Polonia y Eslovaquia. La politica familiar en los paises „Visegrad” ha sido generalmente etiquetada como „familiarista” debido a las políticas que favorecen el cuidado de los padres hacia sus hijos pequeños. El articulo tiene como objetivo responder a las preguntas: ¿Hasta que punto las políticas actuales de cuidado infantil y bajas maternales se adhieren a un modelo „familiarista” y los acontecimientos recientes han diluido o fortalecido la adhesión? ¿Cuales son hoy las consecuencias parentales para el empleo de las mujeres? ¿Cuales son las posibles explicaciones para estas consecuencias, incluyendo el rol explicito e implicito del familialismo? La atención se centra sobre las similitudes y diferencias entre los paises. El articulo enseña (1) que Polonia se diferencia en algunos aspectos importantes (ej: madres empleadas, política de bajas de maternidad) de otros paises „Visegrad”; (2) que debido a la limitada disponibilidad de empleo de buena calidad a tiempo parcial o media jornada, padres en paises „Visegrad” no tienen la posibilidad de usar el derecho de baja de maternidad; (3) los obtáculos (diseño de políticas de bajas maternales, la brecha salarial de género, actitudes sociales) a los padres que usan su derecho de baja de maternidad; y (4) a las expectativas y demandas en conflicto (la necesidad financiera de ganar dinero, expectativa social de ser una buena madre, cumplimiento de las ambiciones profesionales) están sujetas las mujeres.

Keywords:

• parental leave
• maternity leave
• childcare
• care familisation
• care defamilisation
• the Visegrad countries

Palabras claves:

• miso parental
• baja de maternidad
• cuidado de ni ños
• cuidado defamilisation
• los paises
• “Visegrad”

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Peter Moss and Fred Deven for the support during writing the paper.

Notes on contributor

Piotr Michoń, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor at the Department of Labour and Social Policy, Poznań University of Economics (PUE), Poznań, Poland and a coordinator of Doctoral Seminars in English programme at PUE. He received his Ph.D. by defending the thesis on social policy towards work of mothers – comparative analysis of 15 European countries. In his work he applies an interdisciplinary perspective combining: economics, sociology, social psychology and psychology. He is an (co)author of five books and number of papers mostly on: family and family policy, youth employment, happiness. His last book was: “Economics of Happiness” (in Polish). He is interested mostly in: family policy, labour market analysis, happiness, quality of life. He is a member of International Society for Quality of Life Studies, ESPAnet (established ESPAnet Poland), The Polish Society for Social Policy, International Network on Leave Policies and Research.

Notes

1. The term ‘parental leave’ is therefore a misnomer in that ‘parental leave’ is usually understood to apply to an entitlement that is equally available to women and men. In the case of Poland, what is termed parental leave is an entitlement of the mother, who may choose to transfer it to the father.

2. Short-cycle tertiary, bachelor or equivalent, master or equivalent and doctoral or equivalent.

3. Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary.

4. Less than primary, primary and lower secondary.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Centre Poland [grant number 2013/11/B/HS5/03618].