Paid Parental Leave in Correlation with Changing Gender Role Attitudes

Abstract

In recent decades, several countries have implemented paid parental leave for parents. This paper discusses the correlation between paid parental leave—which in Austria corresponds with receiving childcare benefits—and changing gender role attitudes in different-gender parent couples. It draws on evidence from 42 semi-structured couple interviews (n = 42, 2021–2022) in which couples were asked how they arranged childcare, employment, and household chores and how they reached agreements with employers. The empirical data were first analyzed based on content and then by applying constructivist-informed grounded theory to investigate whether and how gender affected couples’ efforts to reconcile childcare, employment, and household chores and how employers responded to parental arrangements that challenged traditional gender role attitudes. Compared to other countries, Austria offers rather generous childcare benefits, including long leave periods. In addition, Austria has introduced a partnership bonus for parents who share childcare benefits 50:50 or 60:40. However, the number of couples who take advantage of these benefits is still low. In the presented research, parents who succeeded in sharing these childcare benefits were interviewed. All interviewees had taken at least five months of paid parental leave. The data were analyzed using a content-oriented approach and by applying informed grounded theory. The results show that a substantial number of fathers continued working in minor employment while receiving childcare benefits, in line with the prevailing assumption among employers that the man is the main family breadwinner. By contrast, mothers had to strongly insist that they could continue working during the early transition to parenthood. However, on an individual level and in specific domains, Austrian parents were able to successfully overcome traditional gender inequalities in reconciling work and family with the support of the newly implemented childcare benefits. The observation that in Austria, the share of fathers who take the income-related form of parental leave is higher than that of fathers who claim other forms of childcare benefits points to the importance of all parents having access to well-compensated parental leave, regardless of their income level before the birth of a child.

1. Introduction

A gendered division of labor in the private and public spheres has been fundamental to economic development and growth in industrialized nations (Neyer 1997; Hausen 1976, p. 378). Powerful images and conceptions of which forms of labor are appropriate for women and men have affected parenting roles as well as men’s and women’s career prospects. To support changing gender role attitudes regarding employment and childcare, the European member states enacted the Lisbon Treaty in 2000 and introduced new regulations on parental leave, including non-transferable fathers’ quotas and individual options for sharing childcare in the family. These new policies successfully promoted fathers’ involvement in the family and made men’s caring roles more visible (Eydal and Rostgaard 2014; O’Brien and Wall 2017; Crespi and Ruspini 2016). However, while the foundations of the traditional gendered division of labor underwent modifications in the 20th century and the early decades of the 21st century, the basic dividing lines remained (Scambor et al. 2019; Musumeci and Santero 2018; O’Brien et al. 2007). Policies aimed at tackling gender-segregated spheres have primarily promoted women’s employment (Oláh et al. 2018, p. 50). This shift, which is referred to as the first phase of the transformation of gender roles, is well advanced. By contrast, the second phase of this transformation, in which men become more involved in childcare and family work, lags behind (Goldscheider et al. 2015; Goldscheider et al. 2014; Oláh et al. 2018, p. 48). Recent research has described this ongoing change in how parental care is provided as a process in which parents “move back and forth along a continuum of gender relations, characterized by sameness, dichotomy, ambiguity, and inequality” (Oláh et al. 2018, p. 20). Overall, gender is still an important structural factor (Acker 1990) related to the patriarchal organization of society. These patriarchal roots of the labor market are broadly related to the reproduction of gendered parenting norms and responsibilities (Evertsson and Grunow 2019; Alemann et al. 2017). In recent decades, it has been common among Austrian couples with children for the female partner to be employed on a part-time basis only, which has a negative effect on women’s social security, especially in old age. In describing this tendency to mingle traditional and more modern gender stereotypes, Austrian family researchers have referred to a “Part-Time Revolution” (Riederer and Berghammer 2019). In light of these developments, the gender gap in parents’ approaches to reconciling employment and childcare, and how this gap is socially and culturally embedded (Twamley 2021; Twamley 2019; Petts 2022) are important topics in gender and family research.

In the presented research, we examine how couples arrive at agreements for arranging childcare, employment, and household chores with one another and with their employers. By asking parents about their experiences in couple interviews, we were able to explore gender differences in the partners’ approaches to combining work and family during the transition to parenthood. As we performed the interviews with couples in 2021–2022, branch-specific characteristics and men’s and women’s opportunities to work from home during the pandemic affected our results.1 While working from home is commonly seen as “family-friendly”, whether this is the case depends on parents’ childcare arrangements, access to workspace at home, their ability to adjust their working hours according to their children’s needs based on the children’s ages and daily rhythms and sleeping habits, and the opening hours of childcare facilities and (primary) schools (Schieman et al. 2021; Derndorfer et al. 2021). Thus, the research showed that parents’ opportunities to take advantage of the new childcare benefits varied depending on their social and economic characteristics.

Overall, the research helps to fill a research gap by shedding light on deeply embedded gendered workplace practices and cultures that are resistant to change and that undermine active fatherhood while reinforcing gender inequalities in parenting practices (Brannen et al. 2023; Moss et al. 2019). In recent decades, new parental leave regulations have supported men’s involvement in childcare. However, there is a lack of qualitative research on whether men’s uptake of parental leave and childcare benefits has changed how men and women reconcile employment with childcare and household chores. The presented research discusses the correlation of men’s parental leave uptake with couples’ arrangements and focuses on couples’ plans and strategies for reconciling employment with childcare and household chores.2

2. Research Background and Research Question

Since 2000, men and women in Austria have had equal access to childcare allowances and parental leave. However, men are far less likely than women to take advantage of these benefits (Figure 1, Men’s childcare allowance claims in Austria, 2008–2020, (Statistics Austria 2021b)). In recent decades, there has not been a significant rise in men’s uptake of parental leave in Austria, as indicated by the following statistical data.

Recent family research has linked this ongoing gender disparity to the persistence of the perception that a father’s participation in early infant care is a non-traditional “private gift” rather than a father’s responsibility after starting a family (Schmidt et al. 2022; Mauerer and Schmidt 2019; O’Brien and Twamley 2017). Thus, the share of childcare and paid parental leave benefits claimed by men remains low in Austria, in the other EU member states, and globally.

On average, “Austrian fathers claimed about 4.5% of all days taken off for childcare. Recent evaluations of the reform in 2017 suggest that over the past four years, the share of fathers claiming childcare benefits has even slightly decreased” (Schmidt and Schmidt 2022, p. 103). Quantitative data show that in Austria, the share of fathers who claim the income-related form of childcare allowance (maximum 14 months after the birth of a child, with a maximum compensation of 2000 euros per month) is higher than that of fathers who claim the other forms (maximum 36 months after the birth of a child, with much lower compensation, i.e., a flat rate of 14.53 euros per day). Additionally, a partnership bonus of 500 euros per parent is available for parents who “share their childcare benefits at the minimum ratio of 40:60 […].” This means that as a couple, the parents receive a total of 1000 euros (Schmidt and Schmidt 2022, p. 96f).

Quantitative data on men’s uptake of parental leave and childcare benefits in Austria indicate that men living in Vienna and in other cities are more likely than men living in smaller localities to take parental leave, especially the income-related form (Figure 2. Men’s childcare benefits claims in Austria, 2017).

As income-related childcare benefits offer parents the highest levels of income compensation, they correspond more closely with what is traditionally seen as male breadwinning responsibilities and thus encourage men to take on a larger caregiving role. However, on average, men in Austria claim childcare benefits for shorter periods, usually for two or three months, without a partnership bonus. In 2017, the year the partnership bonus was introduced, 1.3% of all parents in Austria and 1.5% of parents receiving income-related childcare benefits claimed the bonus (Rille-Pfeiffer and Kapella 2022, p. 45). Since 2017, these figures have not increased significantly. As the post-partum period in Austria can be extended for up to 16 weeks due to a mother’s poor health after childbirth, parents might not be able to obtain the partnership bonus despite having planned to do so. Thus, making use of the partnership bonus in Austria has turned out to be tricky. At least some of the parents in the sample had planned to claim the bonus but experienced uncertainty after realizing that their plans had to be adjusted due to the biological aspects of giving birth and the unforeseeable (health) development of the mother and the child(ren).

From a gender studies perspective, men’s tendency to claim income-related benefits for shorter periods can be seen as a “gentle agreement”, whereby the male partner combines his traditional breadwinning attributes with childcare responsibilities as a paid caretaker, while gender inequality declines slightly, as the female partner’s career prospects and earned income improved (Eliott 2016; Doucet 2016; Ladge et al. 2015; Wroblewski and Schmidt 2021). Parents claiming a partnership bonus signal progress in promoting gender equality. However, from a long-term perspective, quantitative and qualitative data on women’s employment in Austria show that women tend to reduce their paid working hours after becoming a parent (Statistics Austria 2021a; Schmidt 2021; Riederer and Berghammer 2019; Mauerer and Schmidt 2019; Kreimer 2018). Moreover, there is a gendered division of labor and employment in different branches of the Austrian economy, as certain occupations continue to be dominated by either women or men (Sardadvar 2021a, 2021b; Scambor et al. 2019). To investigate the correlating effects of these inequalities in greater detail, the presented research applies an interpretative sociological approach that explores parents’ agreements with one another and with their employers before, during, and after claiming childcare allowances or taking parental leave. Women are still far more likely than men to claim childcare and paid and unpaid parental leave benefits, even though all parents are eligible for such benefits in Austria and in other countries (Koslowski et al. 2022). Gender inequality in the provision of unpaid childcare has long-term ramifications, as it increases the risk of social insecurity and poverty for women, especially in old age. To close this gap in the future, it is essential to promote men’s participation in paid and unpaid childcare, and gender equity in the provision of (child-)care more broadly (Eliott 2016; Scambor et al. 2019; Magaraggia et al. 2019; Aulenbacher et al. 2014). In recent decades, there has been a stronger policy focus on encouraging parents to provide private, unpaid care while receiving childcare benefits, even as state responsibility in the provision of childcare is reduced (Brannen et al. 2023).

For eight weeks before and eight weeks after giving birth, mothers receive a maternity and post-partum allowance that replaces 100% of their income. While parents do not receive childcare benefits during this period, the second parent has the right to claim a family time bonus for a period of one month (since August 2023, this period has been extended to two months). Parents have the right to take (paid) parental leave for a total of two years. As taking parental leave is considered a social right in Austria, parents who are on leave receive health insurance coverage and, since 2005, compulsory pension insurance coverage. All parents of biological, foster, or adopted children are eligible for these benefits. However, the monthly payments are regulated by the childcare benefits system under Austrian family law. There are flat-rate and income-related forms of childcare benefits (Figure 3). While parents can claim a partnership bonus as well, only 1.3% of Austrian parents do so. The share of parents who claim income-related forms of childcare benefits is slightly higher, at 1.5%. On average, fathers claim childcare benefits for relatively short periods of two to three months. Furthermore, parents can delay claiming three months of childcare benefits up to the child’s seventh birthday.

Family researchers who have examined the reasons why men are less likely than women to claim childcare benefits have highlighted the role of social barriers and noted that in several countries, family policies exclude non-employed parents and disadvantage low-income parents (Marynissen et al. 2021; Connolly et al. 2016). In our research, we aim to identify the factors that promote the reconciliation of employment and family work. The interviewees’ individual reconciliation practices might indicate future pathways for moving beyond traditional gender role attitudes in parenting and, ideally, for closing the current gender pay and gender care gaps (EIGE 2021).

3. Data and Methods

The presented research results are derived from the first wave of an empirical investigation in Austria (2021/2022, 42 interviews with different-gender parents). We also aimed to recruit interviewees in same-sex partnerships and contacted organizations that represent same-sex parents. However, we were not able to contact and interview same-sex couples who had taken five months of parental leave per parent since March 2017, which was our main interview criterion. Before the empirical research was conducted, our interview guideline was approved by the Ethical Committee of the University of Vienna.3 The research team and all interviewees signed a declaration of consent that guarantees the anonymization of the transcripts and the later storage of the data in the Austrian Social Science Data Archive (including data blocking until 2030 due to the inclusion of sensitive data). The semi-structured interview guideline (Witzel 2000) included questions on parents’ decision-making and agreements regarding the sharing of childcare and parental leave benefits; on parents‘ agreements with their employers, including regarding their working hours and the length of time they received childcare and/or (un-)paid parental leave benefits; as well as parents’ activities with their infants and/or children while receiving parental leave and childcare benefits. The construction of the interview guideline was informed by prior research (Mauerer 2018a, 2018b, 2019).4 We asked the following questions: When and how did you make decisions about the division of childcare allowance and parental leave benefits? When did you inform your employer of your decisions, and how were decisions and arrangements regarding the duration of your parental leave made in the workplace? In addition, to measure the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021/2022, we asked parents about their work arrangements during the pandemic, and whether and how they experienced working from home during this period. Regarding childcare activities, we asked the interviewees to report their daily childcare routines and to explain how they arranged other activities while receiving parental leave or childcare benefits, including medical care and social activities with family members or friends. We also asked couples how they shared household chores and how they made arrangements during stressful periods, such as when a child or a parent had fallen ill. In addition, we asked parents who received parental leave or childcare benefits during the pandemic questions regarding their individual and family health, as well as questions about how they adapted to the pandemic-related restrictions, maintained (virtual) contact with family members or friends, and dealt with the closures of nurseries, kindergartens, and schools. These questions were followed by an open question in which the interviewees were asked whether they wanted to add something that had not been covered by the interview questions or that seemed important to them in the context of our research.

In total, it took one year to collect the data. First, we had to establish contact with parents in all nine federal states of Austria who had claimed at least five months of parental leave. This process took some time. Currently, it is unusual for fathers in Austria to take more than two or three months of parental leave and/or to claim childcare benefits for that period or longer. Moreover, a large percentage of Austrian fathers still do not claim any parental leave and/or childcare benefits. “Despite access to equal sharing, 89% of the principal recipients of the flat-rate childcare benefit were mothers only. This share is significantly lower in the income-based model, in which fathers also applied for childcare benefits in 30% of all cases.” (Schmidt and Schmidt 2022, p. 103).

To establish contact with the very small group of parents who had shared parental leave and/or childcare benefits more or less equally, we used private networks, newsletters of the Ministry of Family Affairs, parental networks launched by companies in different branches of the Austrian economy, social media, other parental networks, newspaper ads, and institutions that provide family counseling. We also used gender and diversity departments in different types of organizations, including academia, larger companies, and business counseling services. The most fruitful channels for establishing contact with parents evolved from newsletters sent by gender and diversity boards, ads in a weekly journal in Vienna, and—especially in the case of fathers—company newsletters that spread information on our research. Finally, over one year, we conducted 42 couples’ interviews and reached theoretical saturation in our data generation process.

Of the couples in our sample, three-quarters claimed income-related childcare benefits (for a total of 14 months, if the parents shared the leave), and nine also claimed the partnership bonus, which was introduced in March 2017. The ages of the female interviewees ranged from 30 to 54 years (median age 38), while the ages of the male interviewees ranged from 32 to 52 years (median age 40). The interviewed couples had some non-traditional characteristics, including age disparities. In 12 of the 42 couples, and thus in more than 25% of the sample, the female partner was older than the male partner, which is still unusual in Austria. According to 2011 statistical data on different-gender couples in Austria, the man was older than the woman in 72.5% of couples, the woman was older than the man in 18.9% of couples, and the man and the woman were the same age in 8.6% of couples (Statistics Austria 2017, p. 1f).

Moreover, the data included several couples in which the partners had similar incomes or the woman earned more than her partner. Thus, on the whole, the data represented parents who were “non-traditional” in terms of age and income disparities, as measured by the frequency of such disparities reported in quantitative data for Austria. In addition, a large proportion of our interviewees had tertiary education, including a slightly higher proportion of women. Regarding the number of children, 50% of the interviewed couples had only one child and were thus first-time parents. On average, the partners in each couple had roughly equal incomes, with some women earning more than their partners and vice versa. Moreover, our data confirmed that the parents in our sample experienced education and marriage mobility toward metropolitan Vienna as well as toward other larger cities, including Graz in Styria and Innsbruck and the surrounding area in Tyrol. In our data analysis, examining gender inequalities in workplace conditions was of utmost importance. We identified different facets of inequalities regarding the expectations of mothers and fathers in the early transition to parenthood. However, interviewing parents who have claimed at least five months of leave enabled us to investigate how some parents succeeded in resisting the pressure to follow a traditional pathway based on gender stereotypes. These parents had to overcome structural conditions, including the reproduction of gender stereotypes (Nentwich and Kelan 2014; Nentwich and Vogt 2021; Acker 2009), inequalities in blue-collar and white-collar professions, and a lack of opportunities for parents with a migrant background (without tertiary education). These conditions were exacerbated during the pandemic. However, in our data collection process, most of the parents we were able to contact had higher education (see the discussion on the limitations in data generation and analysis).

The data were coded using MAXQDA. By employing a constructivist-informed grounded theory approach in our data coding (Thornberg 2012; Glaser and Strauss 1998; Strauss 1994; Strauss and Corbin 1990; Glaser 1978), we gained knowledge about Austrian couples’ and men’s first steps toward achieving a more gender-equal distribution of childcare, employment, and family work, including household chores and family management duties such as organizing external childcare, contacting and enrolling the child in a nursery or kindergarten, and making medical appointments. The results reveal that gender influences parents’ implicit and explicit decision-making on parenting tasks (Wiesmann et al. 2008). By conducting couple interviews, we gained knowledge about parents’ interactions and about their individual perceptions of whether their preferred arrangements were realized. If, for example, the parents’ goal was to share their parenting responsibilities 50:50, we examined whether this remained a theoretical preference or whether they succeeded in sharing their daily parenting tasks more or less equally.

4. Results

The presented empirical research revealed that the couples experienced many challenges and opportunities in managing their work-care arrangements. The interviewees reported that they had to develop individual strategies for adopting non-conformist gender roles during and after the transition to parenthood, both in their daily lives and in their career planning and family management (see also Deutsch and Gaunt 2020). The interviewees were confronted with traditional social norms and expectations related to motherhood and fatherhood and gendered expectations toward parents in the workplace. Furthermore, during the pandemic, the interviewees who were caring for school-aged children reported greater challenges. Investigating the consequences of the pandemic was not part of our original research plan (which was created in 2019 and at the beginning of 2020). However, the interviewees’ reports on their daily schedules confirmed previous findings that pointed to a reproduction of gender stereotypes in parenting for parents with school-aged children (Derndorfer et al. 2021; Schieman et al. 2021).

4.1. Advantages for Parents with Infants, Challenges for Parents with School-Aged Children during the Pandemic

Overall, our empirical findings showed that couples with newborns or infants found their work-family arrangements easier to manage during the pandemic. By contrast, parents with school-aged children reported finding it challenging to teach, entertain, and parent their children while performing their work tasks from home. Our research results confirmed previous findings that mothers of school-aged children were mainly responsible for parenting and managing school-related communications.

“Work assignments were sent to my mobile phone, even on Saturdays at 4 a.m., I remember, and the German teacher sent the assignments for the next week by e-mail, right? And, well, luckily, I also, because I am also a trained mediator, had a flipchart at home, and since the children had such big rooms, I put a big table there for the two children, like at school, the baby on my arm, and studied with them on the flipchart, did homework—I don’t know—explained grammar”.

(Couple E2/2022, Miriam, 38, three children: twins aged 13 and one 2.5-year-old infant)

However, the results also indicated that in individual cases, gender stereotypes in parenting and the workplace were successfully challenged.

Max and Esther, a couple living in Vienna, positively referred to their son attending a nursery starting at the age of 10 months. Esther reported that their parenting arrangements were non-traditional and thus diverged from those typical of Lower Austria, her place of origin, and, more concretely, from her parents’ expectations:

“Well, they [her parents] were also wondering. But yes, of course, that was already the case with me, I’m also in Lower Austria and there it’s just not usual at all. And there is kindergarten from the age of 2.5, and I […] had to listen to negative critique: yes, putting the child in daycare so early”.

(Couple U/2022, Esther, 40, research employee in an NGO, one child; Max, 42, IT sector, one child)

However, in their case, the parents’ different workloads during the first hard lockdown in Austria in 2021 caused a slight backlash during the pandemic:

Esther: “Ah, so the first wave (meaning the first hard lockdown in Austria, authors’ remark) was already chaos because we… It wasn’t closed for so long. In Vienna, there was also emergency care. We had him at home for about six weeks”.

Max: “About, yes, five to six weeks, yes”.

Esther: “Yes, so spatially we had no problem because the apartment is large, he has his own study there, and one in the kitchen. And (takes a deep breath) how should I say? At first, we said: ‘We’ll do it somehow, whoever has the time will take care of the son, so if someone has a meeting, then it’s the other person’s turn.’ But then I already had the feeling that that wouldn’t work, because as a manager he has many more meetings, and then I don’t get to work at all. Then we tried to make a plan that we really: So who has meeting when? Who can look after him for how many hours? That worked out halfway. I mean, I have a little bit more then”.

Max: “Yes, I would say it was 60:40 in any case, yes”.

The interview passage pointed to gender and generational inequalities in the perception and/or reporting of parenting responsibilities. Overall, the results showed that more pressure was put on women to perform “good parenting” (Schmidt et al. 2022). Although the interviewees widely resisted fully adhering to gendered parenting stereotypes, the empirical findings revealed their proneness to ambivalent feelings and self-criticism. The pandemic and the resulting challenges in reconciling employment and childcare also (re-)produced barriers to overcoming gender stereotypes, as indicated by the ambivalent feelings expressed by women, especially by mothers of infants.

4.2. Counterforces and Parental Strategies for Realizing an Equitable Distribution of Infant Care Responsibilities

It was largely the female interviewees who claimed parental leave and childcare benefits in the period immediately after the birth of a child. Thus, women’s daily routines were more affected by primary care routines, especially as first-time parents. Mothers reported forming a close bond with their children through being pregnant, giving birth, and breastfeeding. In the sample explored here, being able to breastfeed at home while working from home was experienced as an advantage. However, this perception might also be influenced by the awareness that in Austria, taking breastfeeding breaks in the workplace is an extremely uncommon practice, even though legal provisions that protect breastfeeding are in place (Schmidt and Schmidt 2022, p. 102). In Austria, it is relatively common to introduce complementary nutrition or baby food when an infant is roughly six to eight months old. However, some mothers cannot or do not want to breastfeed, while others breastfeed for much longer. Moreover, breastfeeding can be identified as an exceptional topic, theoretically and practically, in the discussion on the correlation of biological differences with gender inequalities (Rose et al. 2015; Hausen 1976). There are numerous studies exploring how breastfeeding is affected by cultural norms, socioeconomic inequalities, and organizational and institutional practices (Augusto et al. 2023; Weber et al. 2011; Cervera-Gasch et al. 2020; Hamilton 2020; Mabaso et al. 2022). Although the ability to breastfeed during a child’s infancy can be identified as a clear biological difference between men and women, there are caring men with “caring hands” who can transcend gender boundaries, including by applying caring hands (Magaraggia 2013). In addition, socioeconomic inequalities affect women’s opportunities to practice breastfeeding (Mabaso et al. 2022).

In a later period of infant care, fathers typically followed the mother’s lead while also taking advantage of the support provided by relatives, informal helpers, and daycare centers. These differences in the roles of mothers and fathers after the birth of a child enabled fathers to continue to work in minor employment, which means working in a lesser capacity, during their parental leave and while receiving childcare benefits.5 By contrast, mothers were not expected to work at all during their parental leave.

A large share of the female interviewees reported returning to work earlier than their superiors or colleagues expected, as it is traditional in Austria for mothers to take a period of obligatory maternity and post-partum leave totaling 16 weeks (Figure 3). Many interviewees referred to the importance of employers’ support and their willingness to reach agreements with parents. However, some employers (still) expected women to work on a part-time basis only after having a child, given the traditional gendered division of labor in the private sphere. Moreover, the interviews revealed the existence of gendered assumptions specific to certain sectors, such as tax counseling or construction work:

“As a tax consultant, you have your clients, you know your clients and have to be there for them, and you don’t want to give away the good ones”.

(Couple R/2021, Nadia, 35, tax consultant, two infants)

Nadia referred to the specificities of her job responsibilities within a calendar year. As a tax accountant, January was a very busy month for her because she had to maintain close contact with clients during this period. In light of these demands, she and her partner made the following arrangements after the birth of their second child in May 2021: Nadia took maternity leave until December 2021, her partner then took five months of parental leave, and Nadia took a second period of parental leave until September 2022.

“Because my level is absolutely not reached. So, I…, I really wanted to go back in January, in order not to lose the one client I like very much. That’s why I decided to go to work two weeks earlier than planned. And I knew, […] if I don’t come back, I will be labeled immediately and I will have to build it all up again”.

(Couple R/2021, Nadia, 35, tax consultant, two infants)

Nadia’s partner, who was an architect, earned less than she did. Therefore, they challenged gender role expectations in their approach to reconciling employment and childcare, at least for a certain period. Their non-traditional parenting and couple arrangements were affected by income, career planning, and branch-specific considerations. When announcing his plan to take one year of parental leave with their first child (five months paid, seven months unpaid), Karl was confronted with his boss’s question, which seemed to assume that he would be the breadwinner: “What about the money?” He jokingly answered:

“’Then, I could stop working for you right away,’ so to speak [grins]. And that was that”.

(Couple R/2022, Karl, 37, architect, two infants)

In the interviews, the construction industry was also identified as a branch with deeply rooted gender stereotypes. For example, Theresa, who was a board member at a major Austrian construction company, reported that a change in her direct superior’s position contributed to her decision to change employers:

“It was already the case that the new person, who would become my supervisor in the future—which means next year when my direct supervisor retires—had already made some sexist statements. And he said, for example, whether I think that I will manage my job with my family, with the children. And then, five minutes after that conversation, I thought that I wouldn’t want to work for the company if they treated me like that. But I would also have liked to change jobs regardless of that. It all came together”.

(Couple J2/2022, Theresa, 40, two children, board member at a major Austrian construction company; at the time of our interview, Theresa intended to change employers after being on parental leave with her second child)

Nadia’s and Theresa’s experiences show that in some professions, women, especially mothers of infants, who are employed full-time are still considered a social novelty. However, this view does not reflect the economic needs of the majority of families, as a large share of families in Austria rely on two incomes.

Although “sexist statements” such as those reported by Theresa are forbidden by law, women in Austria have to individually confirm their interest in holding a full-time position after becoming a mother. More broadly, women are still largely seen as part-time employees because women were historically expected to provide unpaid family care and manage the household (as shown in the introduction, referring to Riederer and Berghammer 2019; Aulenbacher et al. 2014; Kreimer 2018).

4.3. Men’s Motives and Willingness to Claim Parental Leave and Childcare Benefits

Overall, our results showed that the male interviewees were motivated to claim parental leave and childcare benefits largely in order to support their female partner’s professional career and earnings. Both male and female interviewees referred to the importance of individual financial independence and social security. Accordingly, the parents’ combined earnings in different sectors of the economy were seen as providing a strong basis for individual social security.

“I am in the wood industry, which is one of the lowest paid industries, and Tina is in one of the best paid, in the software sector, […] in the IT sector, yes?”

(Couple T/2022, Dieter, 44, quality control, wood sector, two children)

In addition to these branch-specific factors and global economic trends, pricing and income inequalities in different economic sectors also influenced parents’ employment and childcare arrangements. Fathers working in blue-collar occupations were generally less able to negotiate parental leave agreements with employers.

Mara and Abi, the parents of twins, mentioned that Abi, the children’s father, had to confirm at his workplace that his partner, Mara, had already exhausted her legally-granted nursing leave two weeks before he could claim two care days. Moreover, they paid 10 euros for a confirmation that the children needed parental care due to illness.

“We confirmed that I had already consumed all my yearly days of sick leave before my partner asked for two days off to take care of our twins”.

(2021/couple X, Mara, 49, researcher, two children)

Dieter’s and Abi’s accounts show that the extent to which traditional gender role attitudes have changed varies across different branches of employment. These patterns are affected by the average incomes in a specific branch of the economy and by whether the sector has a tradition of guaranteeing parental rights, such as the right to take sick leave and the right to return to full-time employment or to transition to part-time work after becoming a parent.

Of the parents in our sample, a large share transitioned to part-time work after having a child. However, others took advantage of their right to return to full-time employment after their infant had reached a certain age: “Parents are entitled to work part-time until the child’s seventh birthday (or school entry) if they are working in companies with more than 20 employees and if they have been continuously employed with their present employer for at least three years (Elternteilzeit). The reduction in working time must amount to at least 20% of their previous working time. It is not possible to work part-time for fewer than 12 h per week. The regulations also include the right to change working hours within the day (e.g., from morning to afternoon) without reducing the number of working hours, as well as the right to return to full-time employment. Parents working in companies with fewer than 20 employees may agree to part-time work with their employer, up until the child’s fourth birthday” (Schmidt and Schmidt 2022, p. 101). Moreover, it is granted in the Austrian legislation that “parents are protected against dismissal until their child’s fourth birthday if they work part-time under the entitlement outlined above. During the remaining period of part-time work (i.e., until the child’s seventh birthday or school entry), they are protected against dismissal without grounds” (Schmidt and Schmidt 2022, p. 101).

However, in Abi’s field—the provision of dishes for rent in the event/food industry and gastronomy—working conditions were precarious, and steady full-time employment was the exception. By contrast, Mara, an academic employee who worked 30 h per week in a research institute, mentioned the high levels of trust among the employees in her department. Moreover, the demand to provide medical confirmation when taking nursing leave had intersectional aspects. The findings revealed that fathers with low educational levels who worked in low-income sectors, and, as couple X’s example showed, who had migrant backgrounds, (Abi migrated from Nigeria to Austria), tended to experience greater pressure to fulfill traditional norms of masculinity in the working sphere, such as being present, working hard (e.g., working overtime if necessary), and having a female partner who was the main or the sole parent responsible for childcare. Furthermore, the interviews revealed that job availability differed considerably by sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the interviewees employed in the construction, property development, and social management industries reported having more work, or at least steady employment, during this period, those working in cultural management reported experiencing a massive, long-term slump in work orders. These industry-specific differences, which also included gender-specific components, were strongly related to the parents’ ability to maintain gainful employment and advance their careers (Petts et al. 2022; Aulenbacher et al. 2014; Närvi 2012).

Although the interviews highlighted the importance couples placed on fathers taking parental leave, they also indicated that fathers were less likely than mothers to be solely responsible for childcare.

In line with previous family research, our results showed that the father taking parental leave while his partner returned to work strongly affected his caring abilities and his bond with his child. In some cases, the mother returning from the workplace interfered with the father-and-child dyad:

“Right now, it’s mostly four days a week when I take him over completely. And completely means we agreed that I take him over at 9 a.m. and then at 3 p.m., mostly, 3 or 4 p.m. Eva comes along”.

(Couple B/2021, Bert, 32, video production/artists’ collective, one child)

“And on Fridays, I had my day off, which means, on Fridays, mom would take him over, my turn, it wouldn’t start until the afternoon”.

(Couple M/2021, Murat, 36, construction work, two children)

Although all of the male interviewees claimed parental leave and/or childcare benefits for at least five months and reported wanting to be an involved father, whether they realized this goal depended heavily on whether their partner was working part-time and/or was working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022.

5. Discussion

This study investigated couples’ pathways to reconciling employment with childcare and household chores. We asked parents how they experienced daily life with infants and children and how they negotiated agreements with one another and with their employers. Currently, fathers’ uptake of childcare and parental leave benefits remains low, and the lack of progress in efforts to make combining employment and family life easier has hindered the dismantling of gendered stereotypes in parenting. However, our findings hinted that as women increasingly have opportunities to stay in or return to (full-time) employment, the gender pay gap and the gender care gap could decrease in the future with the support of new policies offering parental leave and childcare benefits for all parents. The presented couple interviews were conducted with different-gender parents of biological and foster children. To include interviewees in same-sex partnerships, we contacted organizations representing same-sex parents. However, we were not able to contact and interview same-sex couples who had taken five months of parental leave per parent since March 2017, which was our main interview criterion. Moreover, we also excluded single parents, as the aim of the study was to qualitatively investigate the division of labor between parents and the gender norms influencing this division of labor. To increase the participation rates of low-income parents, the interviewees were offered 40 euros per couple as an incentive for participation.

The presented research thus has some limitations in terms of the representation of same-sex parents and, more generally, of other types of parents, including parents of adopted children.

Most of the interviewees reported that the availability of parental leave and childcare benefits made it easier for them to reconcile employment and infant care. However, the results also showed that it was mainly parents who had a prior interest in gender equity who took advantage of these benefits. By contrast, having access to these benefits was less likely to influence the work-care arrangements of couples who followed a traditional pathway in which the man was the main family breadwinner. In this traditional arrangement, the father typically had limited time and energy to practice caring for masculinities and being a family care provider (see also Tanquerel and Grau-Grau 2020; Petts 2022).

The presented research indicated that parents were taking steps toward overcoming the traditional gendered division in the reconciliation of employment and childcare, as promoted by the newly introduced childcare benefits in Austria. Hence, as family research scholars have shown, an intensive parenting culture can affect couples’ work-care arrangements (Faircloth 2021a, 2021b; Twamley et al. 2021). Moreover, scholars have explored the ontologization of the mother figure (Di Battista 2023). These authors have pointed to the different perceptions of biological mothers, lesbian co-mothers, and step-mothers. Although the range of family forms (including rainbow families, families with children conceived through assisted reproductive technology, adoptive families, and foster families) has been growing, the assumption that a mother should be selfless and make tremendous investments of energy, time, and resources in her children is especially applicable to biological mothers (Di Battista 2023, p. 8; Verniers et al. 2022). In the past and up to today, this ontological mother figure has implied that a “real” mother is selfless, and is thus willing to reduce her paid work commitments and her free time after having a child. Hence, offering paid parental leave to all parents is a signal and a pathway for changing this ontological tradition and for phasing out the ideal of the “selfless” mother.

At the same time, however, the overall expectations of parents remain high, which has resulted in ongoing social disparities in parents’ opportunities to reconcile employment and childcare (a.o. Brannen et al. 2023; Connolly et al. 2016; Marynissen et al. 2021; McKay et al. 2016). Parents are confronted with high standards for raising and educating a child according to a highly individualized, intensive parenting culture. During the pandemic, parents with school-aged children found it even more difficult to meet these high standards, while parents with infants found it easier. This points to the challenges associated with the pre-pandemic cultural norms and discourses around breastfeeding and with the practical organization of breastfeeding in the workplace. The advantages parents with infants reported experiencing during the pandemic indicate that these parents would benefit from receiving more support in the workplace and, in general, having more flexible work arrangements (Abendroth 2022; Schmidt 2021). However, these findings also raise the question of whether gender equity in the reconciliation of infant care and employment is a goal that is harder to achieve for parents in employment sectors in which working from home is not possible. As a large share of the participants in the presented research were highly educated, they likely had more support in flexibly arranging and shifting their workloads. Thus, the advantages the interviewees reported might not be shared by parents in forms of employment that involve hands-on activities, such as healthcare, infant care, trades, and cleaning. During the pandemic, a large number of parents, including those represented in our research, had flexible work arrangements, which made it easier for them to share infant care while taking parental leave. By contrast, parents who experienced huge challenges during our study period (2021–2022) either were not represented in our research due to time strains or did not achieve gender equity in the uptake of childcare benefits or the reconciliation of employment and childcare. It therefore appears that the normative power of existing structures supports the reproduction of gender stereotypes in the transition to parenthood. The results showed that parents had to put great effort into challenging the traditional roles of mothers and fathers in the provision of infant care and family income (Schmidt 2018; Schmidt et al. 2019; Mauerer and Schmidt 2019; Mauerer 2021, 2022).

Compared to other countries, Austria provides generous parental leave benefits, including long leave periods. Nevertheless, the majority of Austrian fathers who claim paid childcare benefits take the income-related form of leave. This has been confirmed by international analyses of parental leave policies and their uptake (Brannen et al. 2023; Dearing 2016; Eydal and Rostgaard 2014; Duvander 2014). Scholars have therefore suggested that fathers are motivated to claim parental leave benefits largely through “use it or lose it” regulations (see, among others, Dearing 2016). However, the point has also been raised that an individualized model that provides only short-term allowances for parents leaves them to struggle with managing childcare and employment on their own for decades thereafter. UK scholars who assessed the correlation of parental leave regulations with men’s fathering and employment practices since the 1970s concluded that “there is no cost-free route to more equal parenting” (Brannen et al. 2023, p. 11). Instead, efforts should be made to guarantee access to parental leave for parents in all income groups, to reduce gender inequalities in the labor market, and to increase public spending on (early) education, healthcare, and care work (as much of the work in these fields has been performed by an unpaid female workforce in recent decades).

Currently, a wide range of branch-specific inequalities affect men’s and women’s opportunities to develop non-traditional parenting routines. These inequalities, especially those between blue-collar and white-collar workers, were exacerbated by working conditions during the pandemic. However, the conditions associated with working from home were not always seen as advantageous for parents (Derndorfer et al. 2021). Moreover, analyses of work and employment during the pandemic have found evidence that gender inequalities were (re-)produced during this period. However, in our sample, men who had a partner earning a similar or higher income reported finding it easier to reach an agreement with their employer, depending on the branch-specific income conditions. This may have been because a woman with a higher income than her partner garnered respect. Hence, some parents reported temporarily “switching” parenting roles rather than de-gendering parenting tasks over the long term (Koppetsch and Speck 2015; Doucet 2016). Moreover, fathers who were in a superior or a (partly) freelance position and who had autonomy at work were better able to practice involved fatherhood (see also Petts 2022; Brumley 2018; Nakazato 2017; Brandth and Elin 2019; Ladge et al. 2015).

Up until now, family policymakers have not focused on engaging couples and parents who have less interest in and knowledge about gender issues. Going beyond the interests of individual parents and implementing a generally applicable “use it or lose it” parental leave entitlement for the second parent might increase men’s uptake of parental leave. However, due to the (gendered) labor market conditions, motivating more men to take parental leave still represents a small step toward decreasing gender inequalities. Moreover, parents in low-income groups might be more affected by traditional gender stereotypes. For these prospective parents, receiving more support from public authorities on family affairs and a clearer introduction to the new childcare benefits implemented in March 2017 might be just as important as the provision of a partnership bonus. Previous studies that have investigated the division of paid and unpaid care work in society saw the parents’—or, previously, the mother’s—involvement in family management and childcare as a distinct, minor topic that mainly concerned the “private sphere” (Aulenbacher et al. 2014; Tronto 1993, 2013). However, due to international (gender) inequalities in parental employment rights, the father serving as the sole provider of day-to-day family care is not necessarily viewed as contributing to the realization of a ”new fatherhood” model (Petts 2022; Ladge et al. 2015; Lott and Klenner 2018). Among the motives our male interviewees cited for becoming an active, “hands-on” father (Magaraggia 2013; Musumeci and Santero 2018) and having non-traditional attitudes regarding gender roles in parenting were the desire to support their partner’s career and ensure the couple’s social and financial security after retirement.

6. Conclusions

Parents with non-traditional gender attitudes are nonetheless embedded in a labor market that is deeply gendered in its construction and function (Kreimer 2018; Acker 2009, 2012; Walby 2021; Alemann et al. 2017). For parents of infants and young children, having access to paid parental leave can facilitate the development of a non-traditional gendered division of labor. However, our empirical findings showed that women and men had to strongly resist and actively counteract the reproduction and persistence of traditional gender norms, as all interviewees reported being confronted with the effects of a dichotomous, hierarchical gender order in the perceptions of mothers and fathers in organizational structures.

Moreover, the reported branch-specific inequalities seemed to reflect gender and social inequalities, including substantial gender pay differences. These inequalities might have made the practical implementation of dual parental leave rights more difficult. Currently, the income-related form of childcare benefits, which is available for a maximum of 14 months (in reality, for 12 months, as a mother’s post-partum allowance reduces parents’ childcare benefits), is the most attractive option for fathers in Austria. Offering higher levels of income compensation for mothers and fathers for a period longer than 12 months might result in more couples making dual parental leave and childcare benefit claims. This could, in turn, contribute to the perception that parents sharing parental leave and childcare benefits represents a new parenting norm. Thus, the actions of individual women and men can help to create new pathways for reconciling employment and childcare that transcend traditional gender stereotypes.

In conclusion, the results showed that the interviewees’ parenting practices were affected by prior efforts to surmount traditional gender inequalities. This represents empirical evidence that previous research on gender differences in the uptake of parental leave and childcare benefits has had an effect. However, it also indicates that more gender-equal parenting practices could help to foster new beliefs about gender roles and parenting. Nevertheless, the empirical results showed that in some branches of the economy, barriers still have to be overcome to achieve gender equity in the reconciliation of employment and childcare and to shape future generations’ perceptions of what it means to be a responsible parent, regardless of gender.

The fathers included in the presented research displayed very caring attitudes, and they all claimed childcare and/or parental leave benefits. This is still not the norm in Austria or in other countries where fathers are legally entitled to claim such benefits. The male interviewees mainly represented “transitionals” (Tanquerel and Grau-Grau 2020, p. 4), as most took on a new role as a father, while also continuing to work in minor employment. Although Austria has implemented strong policies aimed at promoting gender equity in the uptake of childcare benefits (Brighouse and Wright 2008, p. 360f), up until now, it seems that gender inequalities in the workplace have prevented many parents from claiming parental leave and childcare benefits. The empirical results showed that a woman’s position in the labor market and her individual success in securing an income that was higher than or equal to that of her partner were closely associated with the chances that her partner would take parental leave. In conclusion, the Austrian data suggest that gender equity in income strongly supports gender equity in the uptake of parental leave and in the reconciliation of employment with childcare and family work. Therefore, measures aimed at promoting gender equity and enhancing women’s positions in the labor market, monitoring and equalizing women’s and men’s income levels, encouraging caring masculinities, and introducing caregiving as an important topic in the education of boys as well as girls could help to accelerate the deconstruction of gendered stereotypes in the provision of childcare (Brannen et al. 2023; Scambor et al. 2019; Mauerer 2019).