Parental Leave Policy and Gender Equality in Europe

This article uses data from 2008–10 to analyze parental leave policies in twenty-one European countries and their influence on men's behavior. It examines entitlement characteristics, such as nontransferability, duration, payment, compulsory period, and other policies to assess their effect on the proportion of leave men use out of the total parental leave in each country. The findings, which suggest that a large majority of men take nontransferable and highly paid leave, and a small minority take other types, provide the basis for developing the Parental Leave Equality Index (PLEI). PLEI ranks countries by the degree to which parental leave policies reinforce or diminish the gendered division of labor. Results indicate that although Iceland's parental leave policies do the most to advance gender equity, no country has equal, nontransferable, and well-paid leave for each parent. This policy arrangement would be a precondition to men's and women's equal participation in childcare.     

The material-semiotics of fatherhood: The co-emergence of technology and contemporary fatherhood

Using actor–network theory (ANT), this paper examines the role of caring technologies in the complex transition to new fatherhood. The study explores the ambivalent role these objects play in the family setting to co-enable different forms of fathering and masculinity. The paper explores the processes through which these objects, together with emerging fatherhood, enact a material-semiotic struggle over identity, processes, and action. In doing so, the paper derives insights of potential value to marketers, technological innovators, and policy makers alike.