Details
- Publication date
- 20 November 2018
Description
The starting point for this mutual learning seminar, held in Berlin on the 4th and 5th October 2018, was the aspiration evident among women and men for a more equal sharing of care and household responsibilities compared to the reality of unequal sharing of this work. Parental leave was identified as having a role in creating new framework conditions within which women and men make decisions related to family work.
Germany introduced basic Parental Allowance (PA) in 2007, reflecting a policy shift in explicitly addressing fathers and encouraging them to take up parental leave. This is a means-tested family benefit payable to parents staying at home to care for their child. It is provided for 12 months, after the birth of the child. It can be extended by 2 months if both parents participate. Parents can distribute the 14 months of leave between themselves. It provides between 65% to 100% compensation of lost income. From 2006 to 2015 the rate of fathers on Parental Allowance increased from 3.5% to 36% and the employment rate of mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years increased from 42% to 58%. Parental Allowance Plus (PAP) and the Partnership Bonus were introduced in 2015 to enable flexibility in combining part-time work with Parental Allowance.
Parental Allowance Plus (PAP) aims to reduce time spent out of the labour market and support parents who plan to return to work earlier. They can combine part-time work and receive PAP. The Partnership Bonus promotes a more equal sharing of care. Four additional months of PA are paid in parallel to both parents who decide to work part-time between 25 and 30 hours a week. A 2017 evaluation interviewed parents: 17% of fathers would not have reduced or interrupted their paid working hours if PAP was not available. 52% of parents in receipt of the Partnership Bonus report sharing family work. 84% of parents described their economic situation while on PAP as good or very good.
The seminar emphasised how practice and experience across the Member States demonstrates the importance of non-transferable leave being made available to fathers and the adequacy of compensation for lost wages in stimulating long-term paternal involvement in family work. Participants highlighted that if fathers are to assume roles as primary carers, there is a trade-off in relation to flexibility, where the possibility of combining leave and paid work stimulates the involvement of fathers, but undermines the need for them to care for their child alone.
Social and cultural norms were identified as influential in failing to value care and in undermining the emergence of active fathers in new models of masculinity. New legislation and policy have a key role in shaping new norms, however public education campaigns were also pointed to as valuable in achieving cultural change. Paternal involvement is further shaped by workplace practices, the availability of an adequate childcare infrastructure and wider policies in fields such as taxes and social insurance. At European level, the central contribution of European Commission’s Work-Life Balance package was noted.
It was concluded that, rather than seeing well-paid leave for men and women as too expensive, it needed to be seen as an investment rather than a cost; a thriving society needs a well-functioning gender equality infrastructure.