Senior Research Fellow Satu Helske studies how the division of childcare within families has changed after the development of more equal parental leave systems in Finland and other European countries. Helske has received an ERC Starting Grant of €1.5 million for her study for a period of five years.
The European Union has sought to encourage fathers to take parental leave, particularly through legislation on fathers' leave quotas and the equal sharing of parental leave.
“A more equal distribution of early caregiving responsibilities has several positive outcomes. It strengthens the bond between the child and the father, as well as the parents’ ability to cope and their satisfaction with their relationship. Furthermore, sharing paid work and caregiving responsibilities between parents protects the livelihoods of family members and ensures the child is cared for when major adversities such as separation, unemployment or life-disrupting illness occurs,” notes Helske, who currently works at the INVEST Research Flagship Centre of Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State lead by the University of Turku.
Helske’s study aims to unravel how families with children have responded to the reforms at different stages of the parental leave systems’ development.
Six countries, six different approaches to supporting involved fatherhood
With the funding, Helske will examine parental leave systems in various EU countries and the types of care arrangements associated with the policy reforms of those countries in different family contexts and at different times.
Helske has chosen six countries that represent a wide range of parental leave systems and childcare incentives aimed at fathers.
“In Sweden, the parental leave system has long been developed with a strong emphasis on gender equality, whereas in Finland the focus has been on freedom of choice. In Estonia, parental leave is exceptionally long and loss of income is often fully compensated. In Germany, families receive additional paid months if the father takes at least two months’ leave. In Spain, paternity leave is compulsory, and in the Netherlands part-time work is common among both parents,” she explains.
Social networks can influence fathers’ decisions
Helske will also investigate which types of families have benefitted from legislative reforms and in which types of families the change has been minimal. She is particularly interested in how the parents’ social networks, such as relatives, neighbours, and work community, influence families’ decisions, and how care practices change within and between different networks.
“There is a common perception that families cannot afford for the parent with the higher income—usually the father—to take parental leave. However, the financial situation alone is not enough to explain the decisions made by families, and families do not often choose the most financially viable option. There is already some research on both legislative and individual-level barriers and incentives, but so far, very little is known about the significance of social networks in particular,” she continues.
This new study will shed light on the factors that both encourage and discourage fathers from taking parental leave. The findings may also help develop family services so that they can better support parents in the future when it comes to sharing parental leave and caregiving responsibilities.
The study is primarily based on population register data, which enable a broad and long-term analysis of the use of parental leave across different population groups.
This autumn, the European Research Council awarded the prestigious Starting Grant to a total of twelve Finnish projects. “Paternal participation in early caregiving: From policy reforms to social diffusion (PAPACARE)” project by Helske is one of the three research projects funded by it in Finland in the field of social sciences or the humanities.
