Fathers in the spotlight in Lina Aldén’s research
Why do some fathers take very little parental leave despite being in a good position to take more? And have changing expectations of what it means to be a father affected who becomes a father? These are questions that Lina Aldén has taken a closer look at.
Lina Aldén, Associate Professor of Economics at the School of Business and Economics, has been conducting research on fathers for many years. One question she has looked at is their use of parental leave.
“We’ve looked at first-time fathers between 1995 and 2015 who were born in Sweden, have a job, and live with the child’s mother. This is a group that’s well placed to make use of Sweden’s generous parental leave scheme, but still, over a third only take half of the days reserved for them, or even fewer, during the child’s first two years.”
According to Lina Aldén, there are several reasons why things are the way they are. One is financial circumstances – for example, if the father has a weak foothold in the labour market, is self-employed, or brings in most of the household’s income. But there is another factor that is at least as important: norms around who should stay at home with the child.
“If the workplace is male-dominated and has a culture where men generally don’t take parental leave, or if there are more traditional ideas about gender roles, the father is less likely to take parental leave.”
So, is there anything that can be done to encourage fathers to take more parental leave? One approach has been to strengthen the financial incentives, by reserving some of the parental leave for fathers – first one month in 1995 and then another in 2002. Both reforms led to fathers taking more parental leave overall – but they have not removed the barriers associated with taking very little leave. So financial reforms can help to some extent, but they do not seem to be enough to bring about change among the fathers who take the least parental leave.
"Sure, it’s important to reduce the financial barriers. But to bring about change, we also need measures that have a more direct impact on norms and expectations in households and workplaces."
Who becomes a father?
A related question that Lina Aldén has explored in her research is the extent to which modern ideas about what it means to be a father affect who becomes a father. Does it make a difference that fathers today are expected to be actively involved in caring for their children and to be there for them from the very beginning?
"Today, non-cognitive traits – things like social maturity, emotional stability and self-control – play a much bigger role in a man’s chances of becoming a father than they used to."
The findings are important for how we can understand family formation and fertility. Men with lower non-cognitive ability are much more likely never to have children.
“When expectations of fathers change, the bar for starting a family may also be raised. This could be one piece of the puzzle in understanding why some men don’t become fathers, even in a country like Sweden, with its generous family policies. It also shows how important it is to develop these skills early in life.”