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Who Benefits from Parental Leave Policies? A Comparison Between Nordic and Southern European Countries

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The Palgrave Handbook of Family Sociology in Europe

Abstract

The aim of the chapter is to explore parental leave policies in two European welfare clusters: the Nordic and the Southern European ones. The investigation aims to describe the two clusters and the degree of heterogeneity/homogeneity within them, to understand what benefits are generated, and who are the implicit or explicit beneficiaries. The analysis reveals significant differences among Nordic countries, often treated as indistinguishable in terms of their social welfare policies, as well as gender differences in the take-up of parental leave despite the relatively generous availability of family policy, the high provision of public day care and parental leave schemes. The study also reveals that even if Southern European countries are characterised by limited support for working families and underdeveloped childcare and long-term care services (with the partial exception of Portugal), parental leave policies have progressed despite social resistance to change and economic crises. However, in both clusters the groups with less access to leave benefits are similar, mostly single parents, migrant parents, and parents with vulnerable employment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Ann-Zofie Duvander

  2. Mid University, Östersund, Sweden

    Ann-Zofie Duvander

  3. Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Elisabetta Ruspini

Authors
  1. Ann-Zofie Duvander
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  2. Elisabetta Ruspini
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Correspondence to Elisabetta Ruspini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    Anna-Maija Castrén

  2. Faculty of Human and Social Studies, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Vida Česnuitytė

  3. Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy

    Isabella Crespi

  4. University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Jacques-Antoine Gauthier

  5. Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Rita Gouveia

  6. EHESP, CNRS (National Centre of Scientific Research), Rennes, France

    Claude Martin

  7. Campus María Zambrano, University of Valladolid, Segovia, Spain

    Almudena Moreno Mínguez

  8. Institute of Sociology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland

    Katarzyna Suwada

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Duvander, AZ., Ruspini, E. (2021). Who Benefits from Parental Leave Policies? A Comparison Between Nordic and Southern European Countries. In: Castrén, AM., et al. The Palgrave Handbook of Family Sociology in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73306-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73306-3_11

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