Abstract
We address the issue of the relationship between couples’ parental leave practices and their workplace situation in a Nordic family policy setting described as both generous and gender egalitarian. The most common practice is that the father makes use of a mandatory fathers’ quota and the mother uses the rest of the total of 12 months of paid leave. There is little limitations in parents’ workplaces for fathers use of the father’s quota. Parental leave practices involving couples where the father is taking longer leave than the father’s quota and thereby the mother taking shorter leave compared with those taking maximum, are associated both with mothers’ workplaces and fathers’ workplaces.
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Notes
A fifth week was added in 2005, a sixth in 2006, ten weeks in 2009 and twelve week was implemented in 2011.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Research Council of Norway, grant number 17105/V20. The author especially wishes to thank Beate Bartsch of Statistics Norway for making data from the Norwegian Business Register available for this analysis. I am also grateful for comments from Hege Kitterød, Turid Noack and Kjetil Telle.
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Lappegård, T. Couples’ Parental Leave Practices: The Role of the Workplace Situation. J Fam Econ Iss 33, 298–305 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9291-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-012-9291-6