Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

Olsson, Maria IT; van Grootel, Sanne; Block, Katharina; Schuster, Carolin; Meeussen, Loes; Van Laar, Colette; Schmader, Toni; Croft, Alyssa; Sun, Molly Shuyi; Ainsaar, Mare; Aarntzen, Lianne; Adamus, Magdalena; Anderson, Joel; Atkinson, Ciara; Avicenna, Mohamad; Babel, Przemyslaw; Barth, Markus; Benson-Greenwald, Tessa M; Maloku, Edona; Berent, Jacques; Bergsieker, Hilary B; Biernat, Monica; Birneanu, Andreea G; Bodinaku, Blerta; Bosak, Janine; Bosson, Jennifer; Brankovic, Marija; Burkauskas, Julius; Cavojova, Vladimira; Cheryan, Sapna; Choi, Eunsoo; Choi, Incheol; Contreras-Ibanez, Carlos C; Coogan, Andrew; Danyliuk, Ivan; Dar-Nimrod, Ilan; Dasgupta, Nilanjana; de Lemus, Soledad; Devos, Thierry; Diab, Marwan; Diekman, Amanda B; Efremova, Maria; Eisner, Leila; Eller, Anja; Erentaite, Rasa; Fedakova, Denisa; Franc, Renata; Gartzia, Leire; Gavreliuc, Alin; Gavreliuc, Dana; Gecaite-Stonciene, Julija; Germano, Adriana L; Giovannelli, Ilaria; Diaz, Renzo Gismondi; Gitikhmayeva, Lyudmila; Gizaw, Abiy Menkir; Gjoneska, Biljana; Gonzalez, Omar Martinez; Gonzalez, Roberto; Grijalva, Isaac David; Guengoer, Derya; Senden, Marie Gustafsson; Hall, William; Harb, Charles; Hassan, Bushra; Haessler, Tabea; Hawi, Diala R; Henningsen, Levke; Hoppe, Annedore; Ishii, Keiko; Jaksic, Ivana; Jasini, Alba; Jurkeviciene, Jurgita; Kelmendi, Kaltrina; Kirby, Teri A; Kitakaji, Yoko; Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza; Kozytska, Inna; Kulich, Clara; Kundtova-Klocova, Eva; Kunuroglu, Filiz; Aidy, Christina Lapytskaia; Lee, Albert; Lindqvist, Anna; Lopez-Lopez, Wilson; Luzvinda, Liany; Maricchiolo, Fridanna; Martinot, Delphine; McNamara, Rita Anne; Meister, Alyson; Melka, Tizita Lemma; Mickuviene, Narseta; Miranda-Orrego, Maria Isabel; Mkamwa, Thadeus; Morandini, James; Morton, Thomas; Mrisho, David; Nikitin, Jana; Otten, Sabine; Pacilli, Maria Giuseppina; Page-Gould, Elizabeth; Perandres, Ana; Pizarro, Jon; Pop-Jordanova, Nada; Pyrkosz-Pacyna, Joanna; Quta, Sameir; Ramis, TamilSelvan; Rani, Nitya; Redersdorff, Sandrine; Regner, Isabelle; Renstrom, Emma A; Rivera-Rodriguez, Adrian; Rocha, Sanchez Tania Esmeralda; Ryabichenko, Tatiana; Saab, Rim; Sakata, Kiriko; Samekin, Adil; Sanchez-Pachecho, Tracy; Scheifele, Carolin; Schulmeyer, Marion K; Sczesny, Sabine; Sirlopu, David; Smith-Castro, Vanessa; Soo, Kadri; Spaccatini, Federica; Steele, Jennifer R; Steffens, Melanie C; Sucic, Ines; Vandello, Joseph; Velasquez-Diaz, Laura Maria; Vink, Melissa; Vives, Eva; Warkineh, Turuwark Zalalam; Zezelj, Iris; Zhang, Xiaoxiao; Zhao, Xian; Martiny, Sarah E

doi:10.26181/24637140.v1

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Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

journal contribution

posted on 2023-11-27, 05:55 authored by Maria IT Olsson, Sanne van Grootel, Katharina Block, Carolin Schuster, Loes Meeussen, Colette Van Laar, Toni Schmader, Alyssa Croft, Molly Shuyi Sun, Mare Ainsaar, Lianne Aarntzen, Magdalena Adamus, Joel AndersonJoel Anderson, Ciara Atkinson, Mohamad Avicenna, Przemyslaw Babel, Markus Barth, Tessa M Benson-Greenwald, Edona Maloku, Jacques Berent, Hilary B Bergsieker, Monica Biernat, Andreea G Birneanu, Blerta Bodinaku, Janine Bosak, Jennifer Bosson, Marija Brankovic, Julius Burkauskas, Vladimira Cavojova, Sapna Cheryan, Eunsoo Choi, Incheol Choi, Carlos C Contreras-Ibanez, Andrew Coogan, Ivan Danyliuk, Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Nilanjana Dasgupta, Soledad de Lemus, Thierry Devos, Marwan Diab, Amanda B Diekman, Maria Efremova, Leila Eisner, Anja Eller, Rasa Erentaite, Denisa Fedakova, Renata Franc, Leire Gartzia, Alin Gavreliuc, Dana Gavreliuc, Julija Gecaite-Stonciene, Adriana L Germano, Ilaria Giovannelli, Renzo Gismondi Diaz, Lyudmila Gitikhmayeva, Abiy Menkir Gizaw, Biljana Gjoneska, Omar Martinez Gonzalez, Roberto Gonzalez, Isaac David Grijalva, Derya Guengoer, Marie Gustafsson Senden, William Hall, Charles Harb, Bushra Hassan, Tabea Haessler, Diala R Hawi, Levke Henningsen, Annedore Hoppe, Keiko Ishii, Ivana Jaksic, Alba Jasini, Jurgita Jurkeviciene, Kaltrina Kelmendi, Teri A Kirby, Yoko Kitakaji, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, Inna Kozytska, Clara Kulich, Eva Kundtova-Klocova, Filiz Kunuroglu, Christina Lapytskaia Aidy, Albert Lee, Anna Lindqvist, Wilson Lopez-Lopez, Liany Luzvinda, Fridanna Maricchiolo, Delphine Martinot, Rita Anne McNamara, Alyson Meister, Tizita Lemma Melka, Narseta Mickuviene, Maria Isabel Miranda-Orrego, Thadeus Mkamwa, James Morandini, Thomas Morton, David Mrisho, Jana Nikitin, Sabine Otten, Maria Giuseppina Pacilli, Elizabeth Page-Gould, Ana Perandres, Jon Pizarro, Nada Pop-Jordanova, Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna, Sameir Quta, TamilSelvan Ramis, Nitya Rani, Sandrine Redersdorff, Isabelle Regner, Emma A Renstrom, Adrian Rivera-Rodriguez, Sanchez Tania Esmeralda Rocha, Tatiana Ryabichenko, Rim Saab, Kiriko Sakata, Adil Samekin, Tracy Sanchez-Pachecho, Carolin Scheifele, Marion K Schulmeyer, Sabine Sczesny, David Sirlopu, Vanessa Smith-Castro, Kadri Soo, Federica Spaccatini, Jennifer R Steele, Melanie C Steffens, Ines Sucic, Joseph Vandello, Laura Maria Velasquez-Diaz, Melissa Vink, Eva Vives, Turuwark Zalalam Warkineh, Iris Zezelj, Xiaoxiao Zhang, Xian Zhao, Sarah E Martiny

Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender‐based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental‐leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental‐leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental‐leave policies and women's political representation partially explained cross‐national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender‐egalitarian parental‐leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross‐national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross‐national variations in women's (rather than men's) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender‐egalitarian policies (linked to men's higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men's leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed.

Funding

This research project was conceived following the award of a SSHRC Insight Development Grant to Toni Schmader (430-2018--00361). Additional funding included: a SSHRC Insight Grant awarded to J. R. Steele (435--2014--1247) and a SSHRC doctoral fellowship awarded to C. Lapytskaia Aidy; funding from the Basic Research Program at HSE University, RF, awarded to Tatiana Ryabichenko and Maria Efremova; a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council awarded to Teri A. Kirby (ES/S00274X/1); funding from State Research Agency awarded to Soledad de Lemus (PID2019--111549GB--I00/10.13039/501100011033); funding from Guangdong 13th--five Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project (GD20CXL06) + National Natural Science Foundation of China awarded to XiaoXiao Zhang (31600912); funding from the research infrastructure HUME Lab Experimental Humanities Laboratory, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University awarded to Eva Kundtova--Klocova; two grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation awarded to Tabea Hassler (P1ZHP1_184553) and Leila Eisner (P500PS_206546); funding from the Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (ANID/FONDAP #15130009) and the Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (ANID/FONDAP #15110006) awarded to Roberto Gonzalez; a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (756--2017--0249) awarded to William Hall; funding awarded to Denisa Fedakova from the Slovak Research and Development Agency project (APVV 20--0319); funding awarded to Leila Eisner from the Swiss National Science Foundation (P2LAP1_194987) and funding from Canada Research Chairs (CRC 152583), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Insight Grant 140649), and the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (Early Research Award 152655) awarded to Elizabeth Page--Gould.

History

Publication Date

2023-12-01

Journal

Political Psychology

Volume

44

Issue

6

Pagination

30p. (p. 1163-1192)

Publisher

Wiley

ISSN

0162-895X

Rights Statement

© 2023 The Authors. Political Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society of Political Psychology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.