First person: Watching the clock: Make it to the end of the year without messing up

Math coach Steven Goldman compares working the timer and scoreboard at a local basketball game to teaching. His mission as the clock guy is not to mess up. That means he avoids doing anything fancy or learning what any of the buttons do beyond the ones he needs. When he worked as a long-term sub for a colleague’s paternity leave, it would have been easy for him to have the same attitude. By trying to create new materials, Goldman risked making mistakes — and eventually he did. As a teacher who was new to the school, this mistake had the potential to carry higher consequences that it would for a veteran, making the temptation to simply watch the clock even greater.

The Impact of Paternity Leave Compared to Unemployment on Child Care and Housework Distribution in Spain

Paternity leave has been introduced in many countries as a way to foster father´s co-responsibility in family obligations. This study aims \to analyse, for the Spanish case, if (1) the positive effects of the paternity leave are not only limited to the short term, but are maintained at medium and long term; (2) if a similar effect applies in the case of unemployment periods. Based on a subsample of 3388 cases derived from the Spanish Fertility Survey 2018, we perform OLS regression analysis of father´s involvement in childcare and housework. Our analysis shows that longer leaves are related to a greater involvement in care and housework activities, although only in the former, the effect is maintained in the long term. Regarding unemployed fathers, these individuals show more involvement in childcare during the first year, but the effect vanishes later and there is no significant relationship with housework.

Work and children in Spain: challenges and opportunities for equality between men and women

Over the past decades, Spain has seen a striking convergence between women’s and men’s participation in the labour market. However, this convergence has stalled since the early 2010s. We show that women still fare worse in several important labour market dimensions. Gender inequalities are further aggravated among people with children. Women with children under 16 are much more likely to be unemployed, work part-time or on temporary contracts than men with children of the same age. We show that it is unlikely that preferences alone can account for these gaps. A review of the evidence shows that family policies, such as paternity leave expansions, financial incentives in the form of tax credits for working mothers and subsidised or free childcare for very young children, could help reduce the motherhood penalty. However, such policies are likely to be more effective if combined with advances in breaking up traditional gender roles.

The New Dad: The Career-Caregiving Conundrum

This chapter draws mainly from “The New Dad” studies, a decade long research series done by the Boston College Center for Work & Family which studied the changing role of primarily college-educated, white-collar fathers working in large US-based corporate settings. The series explored the experiences of these fathers on a wide range of issues including their transition to fatherhood, work roles, definitions of success, attitudes on paternity leave and caregiving, and work-family issues.

The Role of Fathers in Child and Family Health

Fathers’ involvement with their children has a substantial influence on both their children’s and their families’ health and development. Studied effects on child outcomes are reviewed within each phase of a child’s development (prenatal, infancy, childhood and adolescence). In addition, the impact of the physical and mental health of fathers on the health of their children is considered. This review advocates for policies enhancing father involvement, accessible and more extensive paternity leave, and increased attention to paternal postpartum depression by the medical community.

Paternity leave: stepchild of family-friendly policies. Moderating the role of traditional masculinity ideology

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance and influence of paternity leave on individual level organizational outcomes. Drawing on signaling theory, the study examines the relationship between paid paternity leave entitlement (PPLE) and organizational attractiveness (OA) through a mediating path of anticipated organizational support (AOS). Furthermore, the study proposes that this mediated relationship would be conditional on traditional masculinity ideology (TMI) such that the relationship would be stronger for individuals who score low on TMI.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzed a moderated mediation model using the data from a survey experiment. Data were collected from 264 professionals enrolled in an executive education course and will soon be looking for employment.FindingsThe findings supported the mediating role of AOS between PPLE and OA. As predicted, the positive impact of PPLE on AOS and OA is stronger for individuals scoring low on TMI.Originality/valueThis study takes a multidisciplinary approach to understand the underlying mechanisms that impact decisions related to employers. It is one of the few studies that study paternity leave in the Indian context and makes important contributions to theory and practice.

THE WORK – LIFE BALANCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION WITH FOCUS ON PARENTAL AND PATERNITY LEAVE

The paper deals with the social policy of the European Union, specifically the directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU. And it is considering the changes that need to be made in the area of labour law, especially concerning the Labour Code, and partially in social security in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, in connection with the requirement to transpose this directive. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the valid legislation of the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic in the monitored area. Key words: social policy, European Union, work-life balance, directive, parental leave, paternity leave, carers ́ leave, social security.

Explaining New Patterns in Family Leave Policies in Latin America: Competing Visions and Facilitating Institutions

ABSTRACTRecent years have seen the rapid passage and modification of family leave policies in Latin America, a surprising trend, given the region’s historically conservative gender norms. This article argues that the rise of new paternity leave policies—as well as the modifications to longer-standing maternity leave policies—reflects contending visions of gender and the family, mediated by the institutions and actors that populate the region’s political landscape. Using an original dataset of family policy measures, this article finds that the factors facilitating the adoption of new, vanguard policies, such as paternity leave, function in ways different from those that shape the expansion of longer-standing policies, including maternity leave.