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Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

January 2023
Political Psychology 44(6)

DOI:10.1111/pops.12880

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CC BY 4.0

Authors:

Maria Ingrid Teresa Olsson

University of Inland Norway

Sanne Van Grootel

KU Leuven

Katharina Block

University of British Columbia

Carolin Schuster

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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.

Gender gap in intended uptake of parental leave by country. Scores are based on the estimated means (i.e., subtracting the intercept for men from the intercept for women, when individual-and site-level control variables are held constant). Values above 0 indicate how many more weeks of leave women intend to take than men.

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Gender gap in intended uptake of parental leave predicted by available leave length. Dots represent the relationship between averaged intended leave uptake for a given gender in each country and length of available parental leave without additional covariates.

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Gender gap in intended uptake of parental leave predicted by women's relative representation in politics. Dots represent the relationship between averaged intended leave uptake for a given gender in each country and women's relative representation in politics.

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Intended uptake of parental leave predicted by gender and attitudes toward childcare. Dots represent the relationship between women's and men's individual intentions to take parental leave and gender-role attitudes toward childcare without additional covariates.

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Final Model: Intended Uptake of Parental Leave Predicted by Gender, Financially Generous Leave, Available Leave Length, and Women's Relative Representation in Politics

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Political Psychology, Vol. 0, No. 0, 2023

doi: 10.1111/pops.12880

Published by Wiley Periodicals, LLC., 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ,

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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in

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Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37

Countries

Maria I. T. Olsson

Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences

Sanne van Grootel

University of Leuven

Katharina Block

University of Amsterdam

Carolin Schuster

Leuphana University Lüneburg

Loes Meeussen

University of Leuven

Research Foundation Flanders

Colette Van Laar

University of Leuven

Toni Schmader

University of British Columbia

Alyssa Croft

University of Arizona

Molly Shuyi Sun

University of Toronto

Mare Ainsaar

University of Tartu

The present article focuses on traditional gender roles and thus primary analyses focus on cisgender participants who

may expect to be in a straight relationship in the future (and thus more likely to anticipate a gender- traditional division

of roles). Including data from lesbian and gay participants does not change the main findings.

14679221, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12880 by INASP (Tanzania), Wiley Online Library on [13/03/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License

2M.I.T. Olsson et al.

Lianne Aarntzen

Utrecht University

Magdalena Adamus

Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Joel Anderson

Australian Catholic University

La Trobe University

Ciara Atkinson

University of Arizona

Mohamad Avicenna

State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatuillah Jakarta

Przemysław Bąbel

Jagiellonian University

Markus Barth

Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences

Tessa M. Benson- Greenwald

Indiana University Bloomington

Edona Maloku

Rochester Institute of Technology Kosovo

Jacques Berent

University of Geneva

Hilary B. Bergsieker

University of Waterloo

Monica Biernat

University of Kansas

Andreea G. Bîrneanu

West University of Timisoara

Blerta Bodinaku

University of Tirana

Janine Bosak

Dublin City University

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

Jennifer Bosson

University of South Florida

Marija Branković

University of Belgrade

Julius Burkauskas

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences

Vladimíra Čavojová

Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Sapna Cheryan

University of Washington

Eunsoo Choi

Korea University

Incheol Choi

Seoul National University

Carlos C. Contreras- Ibáñez

UAM – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

Andrew Coogan

Maynooth University, National University of Ireland

Ivan Danyliuk

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Ilan Dar- Nimrod

University of Sydney

Nilanjana Dasgupta

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Soledad de Lemus

Universidad de Granada

Thierry Devos

San Diego State University

Marwan Diab

Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

Amanda B. Diekman

Indiana University Bloomington

4M.I.T. Olsson et al.

Maria Efremova

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Léïla Eisner

University of Zurich

Anja Eller

UNAM – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Rasa Erentaite

Kaunas University of Technology

Denisa Fedáková

Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences

Renata Franc

Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar

Leire Gartzia

Deusto Business School

Alin Gavreliuc

West University of Timisoara

Dana Gavreliuc

West University of Timisoara

Julija Gecaite- Stonciene

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences

Adriana L. Germano

University of Washington

Columbia University

Ilaria Giovannelli

University of Chieti- Pescara

Renzo Gismondi Diaz

Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Lyudmila Gitikhmayeva

L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University

Abiy Menkir Gizaw

Bahir Dar University

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

Biljana Gjoneska

Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Omar Martínez González

UNAM – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Roberto González

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Isaac David Grijalva

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

Derya Güngör

University of Leuven

Marie Gustafsson Sendén

Stockholm University

William Hall

Brock University

Charles Harb

American University of Beirut

Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Bushra Hassan

International Islamic University Islamabad

Tabea Hässler

University of Zurich

Diala R. Hawi

Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Levke Henningsen

University of Zurich

University of Exeter

Annedore Hoppe

University of Leipzig

Keiko Ishii

Nagoya University

Ivana Jakšić

University of Belgrade

6M.I.T. Olsson et al.

Alba Jasini

University of Leuven

Jurgita Jurkevičienė

Kaunas University of Technology

Kaltrina Kelmendi

University of Prishtina

Teri A. Kirby

International Islamic University Islamabad

Purdue University

Yoko Kitakaji

Hiroshima University

Natasza Kosakowska- Berezecka

University of Gdańsk

Inna Kozytska

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Clara Kulich

University of Geneva

Eva Kundtová- Klocová

Masaryk University

Filiz Kunuroglu

İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University

Christina Lapytskaia Aidy

York University

Albert Lee

Nanyang Technological University

Anna Lindqvist

Lund University

Wilson López- López

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

Liany Luzvinda

State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatuillah Jakarta

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

Fridanna Maricchiolo

Roma Tre University

Delphine Martinot

Université Clermont Auvergne (LAPSCO)

Rita Anne McNamara

Victoria University of Wellington

Alyson Meister

IMD Business School

Tizita Lemma Melka

Bahir Dar University

Narseta Mickuviene

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences

María Isabel Miranda- Orrego

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

Thadeus Mkamwa

Saint Augustine University of Tanzania

James Morandini

University of Sydney

Thomas Morton

University of Copenhagen

David Mrisho

Saint Augustine University of Tanzania

Jana Nikitin

University of Vienna

Sabine Otten

University of Groningen

Maria Giuseppina Pacilli

University of Chieti- Pescara

Elizabeth Page- Gould

University of Toronto

Ana Perandrés

Universidad de Granada

8M.I.T. Olsson et al.

Jon Pizarro

Deusto Business School

Nada Pop- Jordanova

Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Joanna Pyrkosz- Pacyna

AGH University of Science and Technology

Sameir Quta

Islamic University of Gaza

TamilSelvan Ramis

Sunway University

Nitya Rani

Independent Researcher

Sandrine Redersdorff

Université Clermont Auvergne (LAPSCO)

Isabelle Régner

Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LPC

Emma A. Renström

Kristianstad University

Adrian Rivera- Rodriguez

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Sánchez Tania Esmeralda Rocha

UNAM – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Tatiana Ryabichenko

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Rim Saab

American University of Beirut

University of Sussex

Kiriko Sakata

Hiroshima University

Adil Samekin

M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

Tracy Sánchez- Pachecho

Osnabrück University

University of Costa Rica

Carolin Scheifele

University of Leuven

Research Foundation Flanders

University of Kaiserslautern- Landau

Marion K. Schulmeyer

Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Sabine Sczesny

University of Bern

David Sirlopú

Universidad San Sebastián

Vanessa Smith- Castro

University of Costa Rica

Kadri Soo

University of Tartu

Federica Spaccatini

University of Chieti- Pescara

Jennifer R. Steele

York University

Melanie C. Steffens

University of Kaiserslautern- Landau

Ines Sucic

Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar

Joseph Vandello

University of South Florida

Laura Maria Velásquez- Díaz

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

Melissa Vink

Utrecht University

Eva Vives

Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LPC

10 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

Turuwark Zalalam Warkineh

Bahir Dar University

Iris Žeželj

University of Belgrade

Xiaoxiao Zhang

Shenzhen University

Xian Zhao

University of Toronto

University of Kansas

Sarah E. Martiny

UiT The Arctic University of Norway

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.

KEY WORDS: parental leave, gender, cross- national, inequality, childcare

Many countries have a gender- based division of labor, with higher- status paid work

done more by men, and lower- status unpaid care work done more by women (EIGE,2019;

WEF,2020). Importantly, however, the gender gap in unpaid care work (e.g., childcare) is

larger than in paid work (OECD,2020). Men’s relatively lower engagement in childcare

has been linked to lower career opportunities for women and marital dissatisfaction in cou-

ples (Carlson et al.,2016; Croft et al.,2019), as well as lower well- being for fathers and

their children (see Meeussen et al.,2020). Notwithstanding these consequences, antecedents

of men’s underrepresentation in childcare have been largely overlooked in psychological

research (Croft et al., 2015). While empirically underexplored, men’s relatively low par-

ticipation in childcare tasks is nonetheless a well- known issue among policy and political

decision- makers. However, despite global commitments and efforts to tackle men’s lower

engagement in childcare (Eurofound, 1998), recent decades showed varied— and overall

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

only modest— progress toward gender equality in childcare between countries (Sullivan

et al.,2018). This continued gender imbalance highlights the need for cross- cultural research

on reasons for men’s underrepresentation in unpaid care work. In addition, despite evidence

of gender inequities in parents’ actual division of labor (Ma et al.,2020), less is known about

young women’s and men’s intended engagement in these roles prior to having children.

Young women’s and men’s caregiving intentions may factor into their career choices and

ambitions (Croft et al.,2019; Frome et al.,2006), ultimately perpetuating a gender- based

division of paid and unpaid work. We thus examine predictors of intended uptake of parental

leave in 13,942 young adults from 37 countries who do not yet have children.

Individual Gender Attitudes and the Gender Gap in Childcare

Empirical and theoretical research has examined why women and men often behave in

accordance with traditional gender roles, with men largely occupying breadwinning roles and

women largely occupying caretaking roles (e.g., social role theory; Eagly & Wood,2012).

Although individual differences in gender attitudes are assumed to drive gender- based di-

vision of roles (Knudsen & Wærness,2008), evidence is mixed. Some research shows that

gender- egalitarian attitudes predict more equal sharing of childcare and parental leave uptake

between partners (Duvander,2014; Evertsson,2014). Yet even among straight couples who

endorse gender- egalitarian attitudes, mothers still do more childcare than fathers, including

taking the majority of parental leave (Brandén et al.,2018; Bulanda, 2004). Furthermore,

realistic constraints at the country level, such as transferrable leave policies and gender in-

equality in the labor market, inhibit leave uptake in men, irrespective of their individual

gender attitudes (Bueno & Grau- Grau,2020; Kaufman,2018). Thus, women’s and men’s

engagement in childcare may depend not only on individual gender attitudes but also the

broader sociopolitical context. Indeed, cross- national variation in policies and societal gen-

der inequality corresponds with cross- national variation in the division of paid and unpaid

work among mothers and fathers (Aboim,2010; Boll et al., 2014; Craig & Mullan, 2011;

DeRose et al.,2019; Gracia & Esping- Andersen,2015). For example, although straight cou-

ples with children have a more traditional division of paid and unpaid work than couples

without children, this difference is attenuated in countries where a proportion of paid leave

is reserved specifically for fathers (DeRose et al.,2019).

National Policies, Societal Gender Equality, and the Gender Gap in Childcare

One political strategy for reducing the gender gap in childcare is to extend parental- leave op-

portunities to men. However, this does not always translate into equal participation in childcare.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO,2014), 66 countries across the world

have introduced parental leave (i.e., leave available to both mothers and fathers) to support gender

equality in the division of paid and unpaid work (Burri & Prechal,2013). However, statistics from

Europe show that even in countries that allow mothers and fathers to share leave, mothers tend to

take most or all of the leave (Eurofound,2019). Research has thus examined whether equal uptake

is associated with the extent to which leave policies are gender egalitarian (i.e., available to either

parent) and generous (i.e., compensated at a high rate). To identify the parental- leave policies most

associated with fathers’ leave uptake, one analysis of leave policies in 21 European countries found

that “use it or lose it” parental leave that was nontransferrable (i.e., reserved for fathers) and highly

paid (approaching 100% of salary) was associated with the highest uptake by men (Castro- García

12 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

& Pazos- Moran,2016). In contrast, women tended to take most of the paid leave offered to them,

not only leave paid at a high rate (for similar findings, see Duvander & Johansson,2012; Geisler &

Kreyenfeld,2019; O’Brien,2009). Longitudinal studies also show that policies play a key role in elic-

iting change, as introducing incentives for fathers to take parental leave increases gender- equitable

norms and leave uptake (Jurado- Guerrero & Muñoz- Comet,2021; Omidakhsh et al.,2020).

Importantly, however, parental- leave policies are likely to be confounded with other

social, cultural, and economic factors (Carriero,2020; Kasser,2011). Thus, to better esti-

mate the effect of leave policies over and above other country- level factors, it is important

to consider the effect of societal gender equality, which may also contribute to a gendered

divide of paid and unpaid work. For example, cross- national research has shown that straight

couples in more gender- egalitarian societies (where women are afforded a higher degree of

professional opportunities, economic power, and representation in politics) tend to divide

domestic work more equally than those in less gender- egalitarian societies (Hook, 2006;

Knudsen & Wærness,2008). This association between societal gender equality and couples’

share of domestic work may be explained by social role theory (Eagly & Wood,2012), ac-

cording to which gender differences are more pronounced in more unequal countries (Eagly

& Wood,1999), as women and men are expected to behave in accordance with gender- role

beliefs. These beliefs stem from the gender- based division of labor and gender hierarchy,

as women and men infer what is intrinsic and appropriate behavior for their gender based

on women’s and men’s relative distribution across social roles. Furthermore, in line with

role- congruity theory, women and men are motivated to behave in accordance with gender-

role expectations, as they experience personal and social rewards or punishments for role

congruity and role incongruity, respectively (Diekman & Eagly,2008). Taken together, both

egalitarian parental- leave policies (linked to men’s higher representation in unpaid care work

in prior research) and societal gender equality (women’s relative representation in higher-

status paid work) may be associated with a smaller gender gap in intended uptake of parental

leave, as young women and men align their future caregiving intentions with gender roles in

society (Brown & Diekman,2010).

Overview and Hypotheses

To address the gender- based division of paid work before it is firmly rooted in a new gener-

ation, it is important to situate caregiving intentions in young adults in a broader sociopolitical

context. Our preregistered study thus examined parental- leave intentions among 13,942 students

in 37 countries. We tested the extent to which parental- leave policies and societal gender equal-

ity predicted cross- national variation in the gender gap in intended leave uptake over and above

individual- level gender- role attitudes (see the online supporting information for exploratory

analyses with other country- level variables). We focus on intended leave uptake as a specific,

tangible aspect of childcare rather than intended engagement in childcare in general, as previous

research shows that men report shorter leave intentions than women, despite intending to share

childcare equally (Tharp & Parks- Stamm,2021).

In Model 1, we tested the independent effects of four different aspects of parental- leave

policies. In all countries, maternity leave is exclusive to mothers, whereas paternity leave is

exclusive to fathers. The amount of parental leave exclusive to fathers corresponds with fathers’

leave uptake (e.g., DeRose et al.,2019). Thus, in line with role congruity processes, we pre-

dicted that men would report greater intentions to take leave in countries where more leave is

exclusive to fathers.

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

H1: The gender gap will be smaller in countries where more leave is exclusive to

fathers.

In most countries, however, more leave tends to be exclusive to mothers than fathers. We

predicted that in countries where relatively more leave is exclusive to mothers than fathers

(estimated by subtracting the number of weeks of leave exclusive to fathers from the number of

weeks exclusive to mothers), women would report higher— and men lower— intentions to take

leave.

H2: The gender gap will be larger in countries with more gender imbalance in exclusive

leave.

Interestingly, previous research indicates that (unpaid) parental leave (i.e., leave that moth-

ers and fathers choose how to distribute between themselves) seems to have little bearing on

men’s uptake of leave (Han & Waldfogel, 2003). Moreover, experimental research suggests

that when women and men are offered longer leave, the gender gap in intentions to take leave

increases, as women are more likely to take advantage of unpaid leave than men (Tharp &

Parks- Stamm,2021). In line with these previous findings on how policies affect the gender gap

in childcare, we predictthat:

H3: Longer available parental leave will correspond with a larger gender gap.

In addition, although financial compensation may correspond with higher leave inten-

tions among both women and men, it may be more strongly associated with men’s leave

intentions because of a realistic calculus of lost salary (given men’s higher average pay) or

gender norms prescribing men as breadwinners (Haas & Hwang,2019). Thus, we predict

that:

H4: More financially generous leave (i.e., the degree to which leave is compensated) will

correspond with a smaller gender gap.

In Model 2, we tested the independent effects of different country- level gender equality

indicators on men’s and women’s leave intentions. Again, in line with role- congruity processes,

we predicted that gender equality at the national level (operationalized as women’s relative

representation in high- status paid work) would correspond with greater gender- equal intentions

to care for one’s future children, as women would report relatively shorter– and men relatively

longer– leave intentions. Thus, we predict that:

H5: The gender gap in intended leave will be smaller in countries where women’s repre-

sentation in earnings are more equal to men’s.

H6: The gender gap in intended leave will be smaller in countries where women’s repre-

sentation in politics are more equal to men’s.

Finally, with the aim to integrate previous literature and examine the relative importance of

national policy versus gender- equality indicators on the gender gap in intentions over and above

individual gender attitudes, we included all significant interaction effects between participant

14 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

gender and country- level variables (from Models 1 and 2) into a final model where we also

controlled for individual gender attitudes. In addition to testing the preregistered hypotheses

outlined above, we explored the relationship between women’s and men’s leave intentions and

career ambitions to assess the implications of caregiving intentions for gender- equal representa-

tion in high- status careers.

Method

Sample

Data were collected as part of an international research collaboration on gender roles

(ucom2 017.wordp ress.com). Exclusion criteria, hypotheses, and analyses were preregistered

(https://osf.io/7psh5/ ?view_only=a6ef2 88322 88414 0b788 04281 9d926c9; see the online sup-

porting information for minor deviations from the preregistration). Because the question about

leave intentions may be interpreted as only hypothetical in countries that do not offer leave, we

preregistered excluding data from 12 countries that did not offer parental or paternity leave to

fathers (ILO,2014).

The present focus is on how gender norms influence a traditional gender division of labor

and future child- rearing intentions between women and men in straight relationships. Lesbian

and gay couples are more likely to engage in “degendered parenting,” where personal choice,

aptitude, and fairness rather than gender guide the division of labor (Fulcher et al., 2008;

Silverstein et al.,2002). Accordingly, we preregistered excluding participants who identified as

neither male nor female (1.19%) or defined their sexual orientation as gay/lesbian or mostly gay/

lesbian from the hypothesis testing1 (2.95%).

Furthermore, because we were interested in future child- rearing intentions, participants

who were younger than 18 (1.65%) or reported already having a child (1.10%) or not want-

ing children in the future (4.88%) were excluded. Notably, despite declining birth rates in

many countries, the majority of our young sample (82.30%) indicated that they definitely or

most likely want to have children. A minority (17.70%) indicated being unsure. A relatively

equal proportion of women (4.35%) and men (4.58%) reported not wanting children in the

future.

After applying these preregistered exclusion criteria, the final sample contained 13,942

participants (8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) from 99 universities across

37 countries (see Table1). The gender imbalance in the final sample is due to convenience

sampling; most of the sample (57%) was recruited from majors in psychology, healthcare, and

early education where women are overrepresented (OECD,2019, see TableSI1 in the online

supporting information for more details).

Procedure and Instruments

Participants completed a 45- minute survey in the language of instruction at their university.

Only relevant measures are described (for a complete list, see: https://osf.io/rwxcj/ ?view_on-

ly=35deb 74b4d dc499 58bd7 001a0 064431d).

1Including (mostly) gay/lesbian participants in the hypothesis testing generated comparable results. Notably, however,

the gender gap was more pronounced between straight women and men than between lesbian women and gay men. The

relatively smaller gender gap in the latter group appears to be more driven by differences between straight versus gay

men than straight versus lesbian women (see the online supporting information for related analyses).

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

Individual- Level Variables

Intended parental leave Participants’ intended parental leave was assessed with: “If you had

a child in the future, how much voluntary (non- medical) parental leave (may be paid or unpaid)

would you like to take in the first 2 years of your child’s life? Please indicate in weeks. For

reference, 1 month ~ 4 weeks, 6 months ~ 26 weeks, 1 year ~ 52 weeks.”

Gender Participants were asked: “What best reflects your gender?” Participants could choose

between male, female, or neither best reflects my identity.

Career ambitions Two items assessed participants’ ambitions to pursue high- status careers: “I

have ambitious career goals” and “I want to be an important person in my field,” rated from 1

(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Items correlated between .42 to .76 across countries.

Control Variables

To account for potential differences in sample characteristics across universities, we pre-

registered as covariates participants’ study major, age, and subjective socioeconomic status

(SES), each of which have been linked to parental- leave uptake (Borràs et al.,2018; Geisler &

Kreyenfeld,2019; Ma et al.,2020; Marynissen et al.,2019; see the online supporting informa-

tion for control variables).

We also preregistered examining the role of country- level factors on leave intentions, over

and above individual attitudes. We therefore controlled for individual gender- role attitudes to-

ward childcare in the final model.

Table 1. Sample Information by Country

Country (rank) n (% men) Country (rank) n (% men)

Albania (38) 148 (43) South Korea (118) 136 (60)

Australia (35) 402 (38) Lithuania (28) 171 (42)

Belgium (31) 322 (22) Macedonia (67) 151 (44)

Canada (16) 1189 (40) Netherlands (32) 509 (25)

Chile (63) 365 (37) New Zealand (9) 222 (45)

Colombia (36) 308 (42) Norway (2) 269 (38)

Croatia (54) 384 (54) Poland (39) 439 (23)

Czech Rep. (88) 198 (35) Romania (58) 215 (36)

Denmark (14) 148 (26) Russia (71) 154 (39)

Ecuador (42) 134 (48) Serbia (40) 740 (25)

Estonia (37) 190 (37) Singapore (65) 189 (44)

Ethiopia (115) 194 (46) Slovakia (74) 253 (40)

France (11) 369 (38) Spain (24) 327 (43)

Germany (12) 622 (31) Sweden (5) 169 (50)

Indonesia (84) 240 (33) Tanzania (68) 89 (51)

Ireland (8) 282 (41) Ukraine (61) 238 (43)

Italy (82) 286 (37) United Kingdom (15) 265 (18)

Japan (114) 463 (41) United States (49) 3049 (34)

Kazakhstan (52) 113 (45) Total 13,942 (36)

Note: Sample information is reported with exclusion criteria applied. Rank refers to countries’ rank on the global

gender- gap index (WEF,2017).

16 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

Gender- role attitudes toward childcare Three items assessed participants’ gender- role

attitudes toward childcare2 (shortened from Gaunt,2006), e.g., “Mothers are instinctively

better caretakers than fathers” (α=.45 to .88 across countries). The response scales ran

from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Higher scores indicate more traditional

attitudes.

Country- Level Variables

Indicators of different parental- leave policies (ILO,2014) and gender equality (WEF,2017)

were collected from publicly available datasets. As preregistered, to maximize the degrees of

freedom (by limiting the number of predictors in each model), we applied a data- driven ap-

proach to select which indicators of gender equality to include as predictors in Model 2 (see

the online supporting information for more details). To address missing data, we imputed 10

datasets from a larger dataset of 63 country- level economic, political, and social indicators using

Amelia II in R (Honaker et al.,2011; for imputation code, see https://osf.io/9tshr/ ?view_only=-

becdb 1e590 a64ff ca6cc ef74f 131fea8).

No multicollinearity was detected as indicated by VIF < 10 between hypothesized country-

level variables in each model (Kutner et al.,2004; see TableSI6 in the online supporting infor-

mation for bivariate correlations between country- level variables).

Parental- leave policies Father- exclusive leave represents the days of leave exclusive to fathers

in a given country (sample range: 0 to 80 days). Gender imbalance in exclusive leave represents

the extent to which leave is exclusive to mothers over fathers (in days) and is calculated as the

total leave reserved exclusively for mothers minus the total leave reserved exclusively for fathers

in a given country (range: −10 to 283 days). Available leave length represents the total leave

(in weeks) that is available to either parent (i.e., no part of this leave is exclusive to mothers

or fathers; range: 0 to 156 weeks). Financially generous leave represents the number of weeks

with 100% income compensation in a given country (range: 0 to 78 weeks), computed as the

product of parental leave duration (in weeks) and compensation rate (% of previous earnings;

e.g., 10 weeks compensated at 80%=8 weeks).

Gender equality Women’s relative income represents the ratio of female- to- male income in a

country and is estimated using the proportion of working women and men, their relative wages,

and overall GDP of the country in question (scale ranges from 0 to 1; sample range: .43 to .79;

WEF,2017). Women’s relative representation in politics is based on the ratio of women to men

with seats in parliament, at the ministerial level, and number of years with a female head of state

over the last 50 years in a given country (scale ranges from 0 to 1; sample range: .08 to .53;

WEF,2017).

Results

Data and analytical code are available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/65dnv/

?view_only=c0fff 2520c e9497 49013 a3032 4770f46). All analyses were performed in R (version

4.1.1.1).

2Scale is labeled “gender essentialist attitudes” in the dataset.

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

Data Structure

We had a sufficient sample size for hierarchical modeling based on the number of coun-

tries included (i.e., 37; Maas & Hox,2005). To examine whether there was sufficient variance

at the site and country level to justify a three- level hierarchical linear model, we first ran an

intercept- only model that included no predictor variables but random intercepts at the site and

country level. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for intended leave indicated sufficient

clustering at the site (ICC=0.06) and country (ICC=0.09) level (LeBreton & Senter,2008). We

noted a higher degree of clustering for women (ICC=0.24) than for men (ICC=.06). When we

added individual- and site- level control variables to the model, the clustering decreased for site

(ICC=0.03) but increased for country (ICC=0.12), indicating that we successfully captured

variance at the site level by including the control variables.

Analytical Strategy

We ran a series of hierarchical linear models in which we included a random slope of

participant gender at the country level to account for between- country variability. We added

cross- level interactions between participant gender (centered at the grand mean; Enders &

Tofighi, 2007; women=−0.36, men = 0.64) and country- level variables (i.e., parental- leave

policies and gender- equality indicators, centered at their grand mean; Enders & Tofighi,2007)

in two respective models. To test each hypothesis, we followed significant cross- level interaction

effects with simple slopes analyses and examined the gender gap in intentions (i.e., the effect of

participant gender) at different levels (±1 SD) of the country- level variable.

In each model, the predictors were entered simultaneously. Each effect is thus tested as the

other effects are held constant (see TableSI3 in the online supporting information for bivari-

ate correlations between each country- level variable and country- level gender differences in

intended leave uptake). We subsequently entered all significant cross- level interaction effects

from Models 1 and 2 into one final model, which also controlled for individual gender- role at-

titudes. This strategy allowed us to weigh different cross- level interaction effects against each

other with maximum degrees of freedom, over and above individual gender- role attitudes.

Age and subjective SES (centered within sites) and study major (effect coded) were added

as individual- level control variables. Age and subjective SES were also averaged across sites

(grand mean centered) and added as site- level control variables (to partial out potential differ-

ences across data- collection sites).

Descriptive Statistics

The first aim of the present research was to examine whether there is cross- national variability

in the gender gap in caregiving intentions. Descriptive analyses showed that women intend to take

longer leave than do men in all countries (see Figure1). The gender gap in leave intentions ranged

from 0.79 weeks (in Tanzania) to 45.79 weeks (in Russia). See FiguresSI2- 3 in the online support-

ing information for absolute averages and ranges for women and men across countries. Exploratory

analyses at the individual level further revealed that leave intentions were negatively (albeit weakly)

associated with career ambitions3 in both women (r=−.14, p < .001) and men (r=−.09, p < .001).

3Overall, women (M=5.53, SD=1.29) reported higher career ambition than men (M=5.45, SD=1.37). However, this

gender difference was significant in only a minority of countries: Belgium, Chile, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, and

the United States (see Table SI5 in the online supporting information).

18 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

Hypothesis Testing

The second aim of the present research was to examine the relationship between the gender

gap in caregiving intentions and different national parental- leave policies and levels of societal

gender equality.

Figure 1. Gender gap in intended uptake of parental leave by country. Scores are based on the estimated means (i.e.,

subtracting the intercept for men from the intercept for women, when individual- and site- level control variables are held

constant). Values above 0 indicate how many more weeks of leave women intend to take than men.

0510 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Tanzania

Belgium

Singapore

Netherlands

Sweden

Ethiopia

Colombia

Italy

New Zeal

and

France

Norway

South Korea

Ecuador

U.S.A.

Ireland

Spain

Germany

Denmark

Chile

Poland

Albania

Indonesia

Australia

Macedonia

Canada

Croatia

U.K.

Serbia

Romania

Japan

Ukraine

Kazakhstan

Lithuania

Estonia

Czech Rep.

Slovakia

Russia

Weeks

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

Model 1: Parental- Leave Policies

Model 1 tested whether different national parental- leave policies predicted gender differences

in leave intentions. Model 1’s total explanatory power was substantial (conditional R2=.30), and the

fixed effects alone explained 21% of variability (marginal R2). See TableSI6 in the online support-

ing information for bivariate correlations between different parental- leave policies.

We predicted that the gender gap would be larger in countries with more leave available ex-

clusively to fathers (H1). However, contrary to our hypothesis, with all other leave policies held

constant, the gender gap in intended leave did not significantly vary as a function of the amount

of exclusive leave available to fathers, b=0.13, SE=0.10, p=.187, 95% CI [−0.06, 0.32]. We

also predicted that the gender gap would be larger in countries with more leave available exclu-

sively to mothers over fathers (H2). Weak evidence for this hypothesis emerged, with gender

imbalance in exclusive leave only marginally significantly moderating the effect of gender on

intended leave uptake, b=−0.04, SE=0.02, p=.053, 95% CI [−0.09, 0.0002] (see the online

supporting information for related analyses).

In addition, we predicted that the gender gap would be larger in countries where longer

leave is available to either parent, as women will be more likely to take leave that is available

(H3). When gender imbalance in exclusive leave, length of exclusive leave to fathers, and

financially generous leave were held constant, available leave length significantly moder-

ated the effect of gender on intended leave uptake, b=−0.07, SE=0.03, p=.005, 95% CI

[−0.12, −0.03]. The gender gap in intended uptake was larger in countries that offer relatively

longer (+1 SD) parental leave, b= −22.92, SE=1.88, p < .001, 95% CI [−26.61, −19.23],

than in those that offer shorter (−1 SD) parental leave, b= −14.23, SE= 2.22, p < .001,

95% CI [−18.59, −9.87]. In line with Hypothesis3, simple slopes analyses indicated that

this cross- national variation in the gender gap seemed to be driven by women’s (not men’s)

leave intentions: The slope of length of leave was significantly positive for women, b=0.10,

SE=0.03, p=.001, 95% CI [0.05, 0.15], but not men, b=0.02, SE=0.02, p=.125, 95%

CI [−0.006, 0.05].

Finally, we predicted that the gender gap in leave intentions would be smaller in coun-

tries offering more financially generous leave, because men will be more motivated to take

leave that is paid (H4). Contrary to Hypothesis4, however, with all other leave policies held

constant, evidence for the opposite pattern emerged, b=−0.19, SE= 0.09, p=.044, 95%

CI [−0.37, −0.006]. Specifically, the gender gap in anticipated leave uptake was larger in

countries that offer more financially generous (+1 SD) leave, b=−21.52, SE=2.01, p < .001,

95% CI [−25.46, −17.58], than in those that offer less financially generous (−1 SD) leave,

b=−15.63, SE=2.07, p < .001, 95% CI [−19.69, −11.57]. Simple slopes analyses indicated

that this cross- national variation in the gender gap seemed to be driven by women’s (not

men’s) leave intentions: The slope of financially generous leave was nonsignificant for men,

b=0.09, SE =0.06, p=.104, 95% CI [−0.02, 0.21], but significantly positive for women,

b=0.28, SE=0.10, p=.008, 95% CI [0.09, 0.48].

Model 2: Gender Equality

Model 2 tested whether country- level gender- equality indicators (income and political rep-

resentation) predicted gender differences in leave intentions. Model 2’s total explanatory power

was substantial (conditional R2=.32), and the fixed effects alone explained 16% of variability

20 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

(marginal R2). See TableSI6 in the online supporting information for bivariate correlations be-

tween different indicators of gender equality in the labor market.

We predicted that, with women’s relative representation in politics held constant, wom-

en’s relative income at the national level would be associated with lower leave intentions

among women and higher leave intentions among men (H5). However, the interaction

between gender and women’s relative income was nonsignificant, b= −5.71, SE = 22.89,

p=.760, 95% CI [−49.82, 38.29], indicating that the gender gap in intended leave uptake is

not directly associated with the gender gap in income. We also predicted that women’s rela-

tive representation in politics would be associated with lower leave intentions among women

and higher leave intentions among men (H6). We found that, when women’s relative income

was held constant, women’s relative representation in politics significantly moderated the

effect of gender on intended leave uptake, b=42.97, SE=14.82, p=.007, 95% CI [14.53,

71.57]. Specifically, the gender gap was smaller in countries where women are relatively

more (+1 SD) represented in politics, b = −15.20, SE = 2.37, p < .001, 95% CI [−19.84,

−10.56], than in those where women are less (−1 SD) represented in politics, b= −25.98,

SE=2.73, p < .001, 95% CI [−31.24, −20.54]. In partial support of Hypothesis 6, simple

slopes analyses indicated that this cross- national variation in the gender gap seemed to be

driven more by women’s than men’s leave intentions: The slope of women’s representation in

politics was negative (albeit only marginally significant) for women, b=−36.44, SE=18.97,

p=.063, 95% CI [−73.62, 0.74], and positive but nonsignificant for men, b=6.54, SE=8.52,

p=.450, 95% CI [−10.17, 23.24].

Final Model

To weigh the effect of parental- leave policies and gender equality at the national level

against each other, we subsequently entered the statistically significant cross- level interaction

from Models 1 and 2 into one final model. To assess whether the gender gap in intended leave re-

lates to parental- leave policies and/or women’s relative representation in politics, over and above

individual gender role attitudes, we also added interaction terms between gender and gender role

attitudes toward childcare (grand mean centered; Enders & Tofighi,2007).

When considered simultaneously, the slopes were comparable to those in Models 1 and

2, but the cross- level interaction effect between financially generous leave and gender was

reduced and statistically nonsignificant (see Table2). Only the interactions between gender

and length of available leave (see Figure2) and gender and women’s relative representation

in politics (see Figure3) statistically predicted intended uptake of parental leave.4,5The final

model revealed that country- level indicators predict cross- national variation in the gender

gap in leave intentions over and above individual- level gender- role attitudes toward child-

care. As an exploratory analysis, we noted that individual- level gender- role attitudes toward

childcare significantly interacted with gender in predicting individual intentions to take pa-

rental leave, b=−2.33, SE=0.28, p < .001, 95% CI [−2.88, −1.77]. Simple slopes analyses

revealed that the slope was significantly positive for women, b=0.63, SE=0.17, p < .001,

95% CI [0.30, 0.96], and significantly negative for men, b=−1.70, SE=0.23, p < .001, 95%

4Available leave length was not significantly correlated with women’s relative representation in politics (see Table SI6

in the online supporting information).

5The significant interaction between participant gender and women’s representation in politics should be treated with

caution as it fell short of statistical significance when controlling for egalitarian cultural value orientation (see the online

supporting information for more details).

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

CI [−2.14, −1.25]. In other words, endorsing more traditional gender- role attitudes was asso-

ciated with women intending to take more leave and men intending to take less leave (see

Figure4).

Discussion

A gender- based division of paid and unpaid work is a pressing issue worldwide. The present

research documented, across a wide range of countries, a gender gap in young people’s inten-

tions to take leave from work to care for their child(ren). In all countries, women intended to

take longer leave than did men. Leave intentions were in turn negatively associated with career

ambition, highlighting the importance of reducing this gender gap for equality in higher- status

careers.

Table 2. Final Model: Intended Uptake of Parental Leave Predicted by Gender, Financially Generous Leave, Available

Leave Length, and Women’s Relative Representation in Politics

b SE b p

Fixed Effects

Level 1

Intercept 32.28 1.66 <.001***

HEED major 1.85 0.38 <.001***

STEM major −0.62 0.44 .154

Social Sciences major 0.20 0.75 .788

Business major −1.06 0.64 .100

Age 0.25 0.10 .014*

Subjective SES −0.55 0.13 <.001***

Attitudes toward childcare −0.21 0.14 .117

Gender −17.54 1.83 .002**

Gender × Attitudes toward childcare −2.33 0.28 <.001***

Level 2

Age (site average) 0.34 0.35 .337

Subjective SES (site average) −3.89 0.92 <.001***

Level 3

Financially generous leave 0.18 0.08 .024*

Available leave length 0.07 0.02 .003**

Relative representation in politics −12.69 10.53 .237

Cross- level interactions

Gender × Financially generous leave −0.11 0.08 .190

Gender × Available leave length −0.08 0.02 .003**

Gender × Representation in politics 31.08 11.63 .012*

Random Effects b SD

Intercept variance (site- level) 0.35 0.59

Intercept variance (country- level) 59.56 7.72

Slope variance 64.65 8.04

Note: HEED=majors in fields associated with health care, early childhood education, and domestic roles: Psychology

(General); Psychology to be a clinical practitioner; Medicine to become a doctor; Other Health Care/Social Work

professions; Education/Teaching. STEM=majors in Science (Chemistry, Biology, etc.); Technology (e.g., Computer

Science), Engineering, and Mathematics/Statistics. The remaining clusters included Social Sciences majors (History,

Sociology, etc.); Business majors; and other majors (Law; Sport Sciences; Fine Arts; Theology/Religious Studies). Four

variables used standard effects coding (Aiken & West,1991) to represent five clusters of academic majors, with the named

group coded 1, “other” majors (the base group) coded −1, and remaining clusters of majors coded 0. Participant gender

was grand mean centered (women=−0.36, men=0.64). Bold values are statistical significance is indicated by *p < .05;

**p < .01; ***p < .001.

22 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

The gender gap in intended leave uptake varied across countries. In some countries, inten-

tions to take leave were similar between women and men (e.g., 9 weeks difference in Sweden). In

other countries, women intended to take many more weeks of leave than did men (e.g., 46 weeks

difference in Russia). There seemed to be a regional pattern to leave intentions, with post- Soviet/

Eastern European countries making up nine of the 10 countries with the largest gender gaps.

More importantly, this variability in the gender gap in intended leave was systematically related

to cross- national variation in parental- leave policies and societal gender equality, over and above

individual attitudes.

Specifically, results showed a larger gender gap in countries that offer longer parental

leave to either parent (in support of Hypothesis3; even when controlling for financially gen-

erous leave, which was hypothesized to reduce the gender gap by increasing men’s intended

uptake). This finding suggests that longer parental leave, often implemented with the intention

to promote a more equal share of childcare, may paradoxically perpetuate childcare inequities

between women and men (for similar findings, see Boeckmann et al.,2014; Tharp & Parks-

Stamm,2021). Notably, leave length was largely associated with women’s, rather than men’s,

leave intentions. This finding aligns with previous research suggesting that whereas women take

advantage of unpaid leave, men do not utilize leave unless it is highly paid or offered to them

exclusively (Castro- García & Pazos- Moran, 2016; Jurado- Guerrero & Muñoz- Comet, 2021;

Patnaik,2019).

In contrast to prior evidence that generous and egalitarian leave policies promote uptake

in men, we found that neither compensation (H4) nor exclusive leave (H1 and H2) was as-

sociated with greater leave intentions in young men (even when excluding control variables,

see the online supporting information). A potential reason for this absence of an effect may be

Figure 2. Gender gap in intended uptake of parental leave predicted by available leave length. Dots represent the

relationship between averaged intended leave uptake for a given gender in each country and length of available parental

leave without additional covariates.

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

that we operationalized the compensation variable differently from previous research, as we

computed a continuous measure (i.e., the number of weeks compensated at 100%), whereas

previous research compared men’s uptake at low versus medium versus high- medium versus

high compensation levels (e.g., Castro- García & Pazos- Moran). However, we did not replicate

previous findings even when we employed a categorical variable with different compensation

levels (see the online supporting information for related analysis). Thus, it seems that while gen-

erous policies relate to men’s leave uptake, they do not relate to men’s leave intentions. This null

effect may be attributed to young men’s unfamiliarity with parental- leave policies, highlighting

the importance of educating young men about these policies so their career decisions are more

similar to the choices made by young women.

We had hypothesized that men’s intentions would align with previous findings showing

gender- egalitarian policies increase uptake among fathers, by influencing young men’s future

selves through role- congruity processes. This prediction was not supported, potentially because

men are not aware of the details surrounding their rights to (compensated) parental leave prior

to having children themselves. It also warrants further exploration as to whether policies must

have been in place for a certain amount of time to catalyze such processes (but see the online

supporting information for related analysis), or whether there are additional psychological bar-

riers to men’s future caregiving selves.

Although it is important to interpret cross- sectional findings with caution, gender differ-

ences in caregiving intentions may affect career choices (e.g., what to study, how high to set

one’s goals) and reinforce inequalities in the labor market. Indeed, our descriptive analyses

showed that leave intentions were inversely correlated with career ambitions for both women

Figure 3. Gender gap in intended uptake of parental leave predicted by women’s relative representation in politics.

Dots represent the relationship between averaged intended leave uptake for a given gender in each country and women’s

relative representation in politics.

24 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

and men (but particularly for women), indicating that caregiving intentions and ambitions for

high- status careers may be perceived as incompatible (Gutsell & Remedios,2016). The perva-

sive gender gap in intended leave uptake revealed in young adults thus suggests that gender seg-

regation in paid and unpaid work will continue to be an issue at a global level. This gap will, in

turn, have implications for women’s economic independence, men’s psychological well- being,

and children’s welfare (see Meeussen et al.,2020).

That said, although reducing the gender gap in leave intentions can have positive out-

comes for both women and men, gender equality is not about gender parity in leave in-

tentions/uptake per se, but rather intentions/uptake that are no longer restricted by gender

norms of what or what not to do. Such gender norms are still influencing women’s and men’s

intentions/uptake over and above their individual preferences (Beglaubter,2017; Miyajima

& Yamaguchi,2017).

Thus, even though generous and gender- egalitarian policies may lead to a smaller gen-

der gap in actual uptake later, these findings highlight the importance for gender- equality

campaigns to not only target caregiving engagement in fathers, but also caregiving intentions

in boys and young men who want to have children (likely the fathers of the future). Our

findings do not speak to how this goal can be achieved through policies, as we do not have

data on why these policies do not have any notable bearing on young men’s leave inten-

tions. Nevertheless, this (lack of) effect is important for policymakers to recognize and calls

attention to the need for future research to explore how policies can seek to promote leave

intentions in young men.

In line with prior research showing that couples share domestic work more equally in coun-

tries where women are more represented in employment (Hook,2006), or have more professional

Figure 4. Intended uptake of parental leave predicted by gender and attitudes toward childcare. Dots represent the

relationship between women’s and men’s individual intentions to take parental leave and gender- role attitudes toward

childcare without additional covariates.

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

opportunities and economic and political power (Knudsen & Wærness,2008), our results also

showed a smaller gender gap in parental- leave intentions in countries where women are more

represented in politics (H6). Again, this effect seemed to be driven by women’s, rather than

men’s, leave intentions. However, in contrast to our research, past work examined the division of

unpaid work that can be done outside of paid work hours. Such work is different from the divi-

sion of parental leave, which entails a break away from one’s career (for which men may expect

to receive backlash; Reimer,2020; Wayne & Cordeiro,2003). Perhaps this work type distinction

could explain the null effect for men.

The significant relationship between women’s relative representation in politics and wom-

en’s intended parental leave uptake did not replicate for other gender- equality indicators, such

as women’s relative income (H5) and women’s relative representation in employment (see the

online supporting information). It is possible these discrepant findings reflect that women in

politics are more visible than women in other high- status work and may thus better serve as

role models by acting as behavioral models, representing the possible, and being inspirational

(see Morgenroth et al.,2015). However, the relation between women’s relative representation in

politics and young women’s caregiving intentions may also be driven by a tendency for female

politicians to push for gender- egalitarian parental- leave policies (see TableSI6 in the online

supporting information for correlations between country- level indicators). To inform policy that

seeks to address a gender- based division of paid and unpaid work, it is thus important for future

research to examine the processes underlying this effect.

Taken together, our findings suggest that both leave policies and political representation

are related to women’s family and career planning. Interestingly, we found no significant

relationship between men’s leave intentions and the broader policy or sociocultural con-

text. Previous research suggests that, relative to women, men’s engagement in childcare is

rooted less in country- level factors (such as policies; Pedulla & Thébaud,2015) and more in

individual- level factors (such as their own gender attitudes; Duvander,2014). Indeed, our ex-

ploratory analyses showed individual variation in men’s (but not women’s) attitudes toward

leadership related to their intended leave uptake (see the online supporting information). This

finding suggests that to increase men’s caregiving intentions, it may be more effective for

interventions to focus directly on promoting gender- egalitarian attitudes in young men (Das

et al.,2016). Notably, however, country- level initiatives and individual- level attitudes are not

mutually exclusive. For example, changes to parental- leave policies that incentivize or en-

courage fathers to take time off seem to shift gender- role attitudes in the general population

(Omidakhsh et al.,2020). The relatively low cross- national variance in men’s intentions to

take parental leave may indicate a lack of effective policies across countries to shift these

attitudes.

Strengths, Limitations, and Perspectives for Future Research

The current research was developed based on the understanding that young people’s caregiv-

ing decisions are made within a broader context (e.g., within couples, families, peer groups, and

countries). Insight into the interdependence of these decisions is essential. The present data help

move science further along that path by situating individual decisions within countries. Although we

were able to make inferences about country- level factors with our large and diverse cross- national

sample (including countries from every major world region), it bears noting that the data are cross-

sectional. Relationships between policies and public attitudes are likely bidirectional, as policies

may influence and be influenced by public opinion through political voting decisions. Moreover,

26 M.I.T. Olsson et al.

the relationship between length of parental leave and intentions may be driven by a third unknown

variable. To account for this possibility, we explored several country- level confounds (related to

economic development, preferences, and cultural values), but none of these moderated gender dif-

ferences in intended uptake (see the online supporting information for more details).

Notably, despite our relatively large sample of countries, we have limited statistical power

at the country level. Moreover, highly compensated parental leave and father- exclusive leave is

unavailable in most countries, which means that the findings related to these policies must be

interpreted with caution. It is important to replicate these findings using other research designs

(e.g., by comparing young people’s intentions to take parental leave before and after changes to

parental- leave policies). In addition, future research may wish to explore the cultural, historical,

or political factors that underlie the above- mentioned regional pattern to the gender gap in in-

tended leave uptake.

Finally, given that gender roles differ across social classes (England,2010), different find-

ings could emerge among young adults not enrolled in higher education. It is therefore important

to not generalize these findings to the broader population. Thus, replicating these findings with

representative samples remains a priority. That said, these findings are meaningful: University

students’ intentions may indicate how societies are likely to develop, as young highly educated

individuals are more likely to later hold positions of power to influence policies at an organiza-

tional or country level.

Taken together, the broader political and sociocultural context does appear to relate to

the gender gap in intended uptake of parental leave, over and above individual- level gender

attitudes. The current findings suggest that political decisions are meaningfully related to

gender equality in the domestic sphere. However, merely offering both women and men the

opportunity to take leave is not an effective way to promote caretaking intentions in men. As

young people’s caregiving intentions seem to relate to their career decisions, more research

is needed to better understand how to promote men’s intentions to take leave and reduce the

gender gap in caregiving intentions. Indeed, accelerating progress for gender equality will

depend on understanding what guides women’s and (especially) men’s decision- making re-

garding their future families.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We want to thank Jeremy Biesanz for statistical advice. This research project was con-

ceived 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 Kundtová- Klocová; two grants from the Swiss

National Science Foundation awarded to Tabea Hässler (P1ZHP1_184553) and Léïla 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/

Gender Gap in Leave Intentions

FONDAP #15110006) awarded to Roberto González; 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

Léïla 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. Correspondence concerning this

article should be addressed to Maria I. T. Olsson, Inland Norway University of Applied

Sciences, Norway. E- mail: maria.olsson@inn.no

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Supporting Information

Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article at the pub-

lisher’s web site:

Table SI1. Study Major by Gender and Country

Table SI2. Age and Subjective SES by Gender and Country

Table SI3. Correlations between the Gender Gap in the Intended Uptake of Parental Leave and

Country- Level Variables

Figure SI1. Intended uptake of parental leave by gender and sexual orientation.

Table SI4. Intended Uptake of Parental Leave by Gender and Country

Figure SI2. Women’s intended uptake of parental leave across countries.

Figure SI3. Men’s intended uptake of parental leave across countries

Table SI5. Career Ambition by Gender and Country

Table SI6. Correlations between Country- Level Variables

Table SI7. Model 3: Intended Uptake of Parental Leave Predicted by Gender and Cultural Value

Orientations

Table SI8. Full Model: Intended Uptake of Parental Leave Predicted by Gender, Financially

Generous Leave, Available Leave Length, Women’s Relative Representation in Politics, and

Egalitarian Value Orientation

Table SI9. Year Parental Leave was Available by Country

Figure SI4. Intended uptake of parental leave predicted by gender and attitudes toward

leadership.

Table SI10. Models 1– 3 with Robustness Checks

Table SI11. Models 1– 3 with Robustness Checks

Table SI12. Full Model with Robustness Checks

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While much progress has been made towards gender equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, education and society, recent years have also revealed continuing challenges that slow or halt this progress. To date, the majority of gender equality action has tended to approach gender equality from one side: being focused on the need to remove barriers for girls and women. We argue that this is only half the battle, and that a focus on men is MANdatory, highlighting three key areas: First, we review men’s privileged status as being potentially threatened by progress in gender equality, and the effects of these threats for how men engage in gender-equality progress. Second, we highlight how men themselves are victims of restrictive gender roles, and the consequences of this for men’s physical and mental health, and for their engagement at work and at home. Third, we review the role of men as allies in the fight for gender equality, and on the factors that impede and may aid in increasing men’s involvement. We end with recommendations for work organizations, educational institutions and society at large to reach and involve men as positive agents of social change.

Do type, timing and duration of life course non-employment differentially predict dementia risk? An application of sequence analysis

Article

Mar 2025

Gender Stereotypes About Career and Family Are Stronger in More Economically Developed Countries and Can Explain the Gender Equality Paradox

Article

Oct 2024

Clotilde Napp

Using data from Project Implicit collected between 2005 and 2020, comprising 1,489,721 observations in 111 countries, we find that implicit and explicit gender stereotypes about career and family are more pronounced in more economically developed countries. Besides, these gender stereotypes are strongly correlated at the country level with gender differences in values (such as family values), self-reported personality traits (such as agreeableness or dependence), and occupational preferences (such as health-related occupations), and may account for the fact that these gender imbalances are “paradoxically” stronger in more economically developed countries (the so-called “gender equality paradox”). In line with social role theory, our findings suggest that there are in developed countries strong gender stereotypes about career and family, which may at least partly explain the persistence or even the “paradoxical worsening” of a number of gender differences in these countries, despite generally high levels of gender equality in other areas.

The Role of Educational Choices in Support of Gender Equality in Unpaid Domestic Work: A Case Study of Psychology and STEM Students in Slovakia

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2024

The present paper investigates female and male students' perceptions of descriptive and prescriptive gender norms in Slovakia and their expectations of and preferences for unpaid domestic work in the students' future family lives. We explore the Slovak subset of the 'Understanding Communal Orientation in Men' (UCOM) project, which aims to better understand the social-psychological factors associated with students' interest in taking care-oriented roles and occupations. Data were collected at several universities across Slovakia in 2018 at psychology (as an example of the HEED field of study) and STEM departments traditionally dominated by female and male students, respectively. Our final sample consisted of 129 psychology students (106 females) and 124 STEM students (39 females). The results point to differences between female and male students' perceptions of gender norms regarding unpaid domestic work, with male students reporting both descriptive and prescriptive norms as being more equal than what female students note. Interestingly, the men and women agreed in their preferences and expectations of how unpaid work should and will be distributed in their future family lives. Regardless of biological sex, the students wanted-and expected-women to take on more of unpaid work, indicating that the decision to study does not foster the desire for gender equality in either female or male students. Next, we explored the associations between the decision to study traditionally gender-incongruent majors and our dependent variables. Because of the limitations of the sample and country-specific conditions, we can only cautiously suggest that the gender-incongruent major choices may become a meaningful indicator of the changing dynamics in how gendered roles and norms are understood in society.

Gender Differences in the Intended Use of Parental Leave: Implications for Human Capital Development

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2021
J Fam Econ Issues

This study examined gender differences in the intended use of parental leave benefits. In a targeted sample of relevant adult respondents (i.e., adults aged 25–45 who work full-time, plan to have children, and are in a financially stable marriage or domestic partnership; N = 82), large gender differences were observed in work-related attitudes, intended leave, desired leave for spouse/partner, and intended use of time during mandatory parental leave. Despite men and women reporting similar attitudes towards caring for children and sharing equally in caregiving responsibilities, men consistently reported planning to take less time away from work for parental leave than women, and both men and women reported a desire for their partners to take leave periods differing in ways consistent with traditional gender roles. The structure of leave benefits was found to influence gender leave gaps, with paid leave tending to decrease the gap and longer leave availability tending to increase the gap. In mandatory leave scenarios, men were significantly more likely than women to report intentions to use mandatory leave for human capital development, such as taking on additional work, searching for new employment, catching up on projects for a current employer, learning new job-relevant skills, and exploring new business ideas. Implications regarding human capital development are discussed.

Design Matters Most: Changing Social Gaps in the Use of Fathers’ Leave in Spain

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2021
POPUL RES POLICY REV

This article addresses how the use of the Spanish paternity leave from 2008 until 2018 was conditioned by the social and economic context. In particular, we focus on how economic and institutional changes may have contributed to an increase in fathers’ uptake rates and to an alteration in social patterns of uptake. In 2007, Spain introduced a 2-week non-transferable paternity leave with 100% wage replacement. Despite the Great Recession, this leave has been widely used, although differently according to fathers’ socio-economic background. The objective is to analyse how the economic recovery and the subsequent extension of paternity leave to 4/5 weeks have impacted on the social gaps in uptake. Using a representative sample of 10,171 employed fathers with children 3 months or younger, obtained from a pool of 44 quarters of the Spanish Labour Force Survey, logistic regression models are estimated to analyse by fathers’ socio-economic backgrounds the impact of three historical moments on the likelihood of leave being used. Results show that the economic recovery did not change social gaps in leave uptake, but extension of leave has been the decisive event. It has narrowed or reversed the gaps in terms of social class, type of worker, type of contract and education. We conclude that the Spanish ‘daddy month’ has become a social norm for 80% of employed fathers, because of its design. Social gaps in uptake have changed because the new legislation has legitimised men using leave, and not because of lower opportunity costs during economic recovery.

Fathers’ Parental Leave Uptake in Belgium and Sweden: Self-Evident or Subject to Employment Characteristics?

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2019

The limited increase in fathers’ involvement in childcare tasks in response to the unprecedented rise in female labour market participation illustrates the incomplete nature of the gender revolution. Available research provides evidence for micro-economic mechanisms and the influence of gender norms and social policy design on couples’ gendered divisions of parental leave, but knowledge on how national level contexts shape partners’ agency remains limited. Hence, comparative research from different national contexts is needed. This paper examines the association between fathers’ pre-birth income and workplace characteristics, and whether they take up parental leave after the birth of their first child in Belgium and Sweden by using detailed longitudinal register data from Sweden and Belgium. Results show that, whereas an opportunity cost logic seems to underlie fathers’ parental leave decisions in Belgium, gender equality in contributing to the household income yields the highest probability of fathers’ parental leave uptake in Sweden. Furthermore, in Sweden, fathers’ employment characteristics are more strongly associated with whether fathers’ take leave longer than the quota than whether fathers take any leave at all. The different mechanisms in Belgium and Sweden suggest that the design of leave policies and the broader normative and institutional national level context moderate couples’ parental leave uptake decisions.

Fathers’ Uptake of Parental Leave: Forerunners and Laggards in Sweden, 1993–2010

Article

Full-text available

May 2019
J SOC POLICY

Sweden is often considered a forerunner in family change and developments towardsless gendered family production patterns. In this study, we focus on recent developmentstowards more gender-equal sharing of parental leave in Sweden. We explore how fathers’use of parental leave has changed over time before and since the turn of the century. Asthe parental leave benefit is individual and earnings-based, we examine how fathers’individualsocio-economic and demographic characteristics are associated with their parental leaveuptake over time, to determine whether there are forerunners and laggards in recent familychange. Multinomial logistic regression models were applied to data from national registers.Our study demonstrates a bifurcation in trends in recent decades. This is associated with theextension of reforms that reserve part of the leave for fathers, the so-called“daddy months”,but stretches beyond the impact of any such reforms. Taking a long leave of over twomonths was pioneered by better-educated residents of metropolitan areas and surroundingsuburbs, as well as Swedish-born fathers. Young fathers, low-income earners and foreign-bornfathers lagged behind in these developments. We regard the unstable labour marketsituation of the latter as a contributing factor in widening social inequalities in family-relatedbehaviour.

The role of culture in the gendered division of domestic labor: Evidence from migrant populations in Europe

Article

Jul 2020
ACTA SOCIOL

Renzo Carriero

An attractive explanation of the persistence of gender inequality in the division of domestic labor hinges on the role of culture. However, it is difficult to demonstrate the impact of cultural factors (e.g. social norms), as they are confounded with other institutional factors (e.g. social policies). This article deals with this issue by applying the emerging ‘epidemiological approach’ which focuses on international migrants as individuals who bring cultures differing from that prevailing in the national contexts in which they live. The study analyzes the gender division of housework of first- and second-generation immigrants living in countries covered by the second and fifth round of the European Social Survey. Applying cross-classified multilevel models and using several indicators of gender culture at both origin and destination, it is found that the female share of housework increases in couples when the man or the woman comes from a gender-traditional cultural background. The effect of culture is homogenous across destination countries and only partly explained by parental background. However, it tends to disappear among second generations.

Dismantling Restrictive Gender Norms: Can Better Designed Paternal Leave Policies Help?

Article

Jun 2020

Despite global commitments and efforts, women's equality, particularly at work, has still not been fully realized. Here, we examine whether improved parental leave policies, implemented at the national level, that encourage fathers to participate in caregiving can be effective at reducing unequal gender norms surrounding work. We use data from 1995–2018 that are nationally representative for nine countries, and employ a difference‐in‐differences approach to estimate the effect that changing parental leave policies has on attitudes towards women's work. Our results indicate that changes to parental leave policy that incentivize or encourage fathers to take time off are associated with improvements in attitudes towards women's equality in the workplace. Specifically, we find that incentives for paternal leave stimulates egalitarian changes in attitudes among both men and women. Our study is the first to longitudinally investigate whether parental leave policies can influence gender equitable norms and our findings support the notion that egalitarian changes in policy can improve gender norms.

Why Is Part-Time Unpaid Parental Leave (Still) Gendered? Narratives and Strategies of Couples in Spain. Journal of Family Issues. (Online first)

Article

May 2020

This article examines men’s and women’s reasoning regarding part-time unpaid parental leave use intentions once paid leave ends by using 52 original interviews conducted with highly educated men and women aged 24 years to 35 years in stable partnerships in Spain. We identify three part-time unpaid parental leave use strategies concealing six different narratives. Our results offer interesting gender discrepancies that reveal intended unpaid leave use arrangements. Our comparison of men’s and women’s narratives suggests that men seem to overestimate the egalitarianism within their relationships by being highly predisposed to take unpaid leave. Our analysis indicates that economic uncertainty and labor-market barriers (including persistent gender inequality) perpetuate a gendered use of this gender-neutral policy even among couples who show strong gender-egalitarian attitudes.

How to Foster Male Engagement in Traditionally Female Communal Roles and Occupations: Insights from Research on Gender Norms and Precarious Manhood

Article

Oct 2019

While women are increasingly entering traditionally masculine, agentic occupations and roles, there has been less of a shift in the opposite direction: men moving into traditionally feminine, communal occupations and roles. This paper outlines the negative consequences of men's low communal engagement, and how this inhibits various benefits for men themselves, for the women and children around them, and for society as a whole. We review how sociopsychological processes driven by gender norms and precarious manhood keep men from engaging in communal roles and behaviors. Moreover, we outline how insights into these contextual barriers to men's communal engagement may also be used to facilitate change such that men are freed to pursue both agentic and communal roles. We discuss (the effectiveness of) different interventions at the societal, organizational, social, and relational level that may enable men to pursue communal interests.

Why fathers don’t take more parental leave in Germany: comparing mechanisms in different work organizations

Article

Apr 2019

Thordis Reimer

In 2007, new parental leave legislation was implemented in Germany, aiming at fostering fathers’ participation in childcare. Ten years later, fathers’ take-up of parental leave is still limited, since only every third father uses leave, and even if they take some leave, they mostly take only their exclusive ‘partner months’. The study addresses the question why more fathers do not take (more) parental leave, with a particular focus on the influence of workplaces. It uses Qualitative Comparative Analyses (QCA) to examine the mechanisms of fathers’ rejection of (longer) parental leave, differentiated by work organizations. Analyses are based on qualitative interview material with 47 fathers in three organizations. Results reveal that whether or not fathers take leave is particularly explained by workplace cultures and family economy considerations following a traditional gendered division of labour. In contrast, fathers’ taking leave for longer periods (vs. shorter ones) is mostly explained by mothers’ wishes to return to work earlier. The results suggest that it is important to understand fathers’ leave decisions as the outcome of a set of workplace and family conditions which in their interplay are multi-layered and context-sensitive.

Reserving Time for Daddy: The Consequences of Fathers' Quotas

Article

Feb 2019

Ankita Patnaik

Gender Gap in Parental Leave Intentions: Evidence from 37 Countries

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