Designing Parental Leave Policy

Elin Kvande is Professor at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Her research interests include dynamics and change in gender relations in organizations, welfare state policies and fathers' use of care policies.Berit Brandth is Professor Emerita at Department of Sociology and Political Science at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her main areas of interest include work, family and care policies with a special focus on fathering and parental leave, as well as rural gender studies.

• IntroductionPart 1: The importance of leave design Fathers’ sense of entitlement to ear-marked and shared parental leaveDecomposing policy design: outsider-within perspectives Flexible use of the father’s quota: Problems and possibilitiesPart 2: Caregiving – fathers in transitionMasculinity and child careHome alone on leave or with the mother presentFathers experiencing solo leave: Change and ContinuitiesImmigrant fathers framing parental leave and caregivingPart 3: Reconciling work and careChanging fathers and work–life boundary setting Negotiating parental leave and working life Workplace support of fathers’ parental leave useManagers: Irreplaceable in caregiving and replaceable at workConclusions: Change in policies, fathers’ caregiving and the ideal-worker norm