Swedish fathers choosing part-time work

ABSTRACT

In Sweden, both parents have a legal right to reduce their working hours to 30 hours per week. Quantitative analysis of 20,000 Swedish parents with children aged between 2 and 7, however, shows mothers to be 14 times more likely to work part time than fathers. Gender imbalance in parents’ part-time employment is thus even more pronounced than in their parental leave take-up, at least in Sweden. An analysis of 14 in-depth interviews with Swedish fathers who have chosen parental part-time work reveals that part-time work represents for them a way to reconcile their separate identities as professionals and as involved fathers. Nevertheless, this study revealed that certain difficulties of a more structural nature complicated this solution for these men; these issues included, in the first place, a strong full-time norm prevailing in male-dominated workplaces, and traditional ideals of masculinity centred on men's breadwinning role. Furthermore, ideals of gender equality and involved fatherhood also showed themselves as having an impact, enabling new masculine positions for part-time working fathers to emerge.

RESUMEN

En Suecia, los padres tienen derecho legal de reducir sus horas de trabajo a 30 horas por semana. El análisis cuantitativo de 20.000 padres suecos con niños entre dos y siete años, sin embargo, muestra que es 14 veces más probable que las madres trabajan tiempo parcial que los padres. El desequilibrio de género entre los padres en ejercer el derecho de empleo a tiempo parcial resulta aún más pronunciada que el de permiso parental, al menos en Suecia. Un análisis de 14 entrevistas en profundidad con padres suecos que han elegido trabajar tiempo parcial revela que tiempo parcial para ellos representa una manera de reconciliar sus identidades diferentes de profesionales y padres comprometidos. Sin embargo el estudio reveló que ciertas dificultades de carácter más estructural complican esta solución para los hombres; incluyendo, en primer lugar, una fuerte norma de tiempo completo que predomina en lugares de trabajo dominados por hombres, y los ideales tradicionales masculinas de se el sostén la familia. Asimismo, los ideales de igualdad de género y de la paternidad comprometida también se mostraban tener impacto, en que permite emerger nuevas posiciones masculinas de trabajar tiempo parcial para los padres.

KEYWORDS:

• Fathering
• gender
• parental leave
• parenting
• part-time work
• work–life balance

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Paternidad
• género
• permiso parental
• crianza
• trabajo tiempo parcial
• balance trabajo-vida

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jörgen Larsson obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2012, and currently holds a position as Associate Professor at Chalmers University of Technology in the same city. His doctoral dissertation explored the notion of temporal welfare, focusing on time strategies and time politics for families with small children (Larsson, 2012). His more recent work has centred on the development of the concept of ‘subjective temporal well-being’, as well analyses the links between temporal well-being and ecologically sustainable lifestyles.

Sofia Björk is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where her research focuses on different notions of ‘masculinity’ and their role in the negotiation of work and caring commitments in families. Her publications include ‘Doing Morally Intelligible Fatherhood: Swedish Fathers’ Accounts of Their Parental Part-Time Work Choices’ (Björk, 2013), ‘Doing, Re-doing or Undoing Masculinity? Swedish Men in the Filial Care of Aging Parents’ (NORA, 23:1 2015) and ‘Negotiating Gender Equality, Atypical Work Hours and Caring Responsibilities: The Case of Sweden’ (with Ulla Björnberg and Hans Ekbrand, in Work and Care Under Pressure: Care Arrangements Across Europe, Amsterdam University Press 2013).

Notes

1. In Sweden, both parents are entitled to take 240 days’ parental leave with parental benefit. Of these days, 180 can be transferred to the other parent, while the remaining 60 days are nontransferable (the so-called ‘daddy quota’).

2. This also includes those who reported working part time because they had children and also cared for adult relatives (usually elderly parents).

3. All interviewee names have been changed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swedish public funding agency Formas [grant number 211-2014-1526].