Abstract
This paper estimates the effect of child gender on mothers’ and fathers’ parental leave using population-wide register data
from Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. The results showed that a first-born son increased fathers’
parental leave with 0.6 days (1.5 %) and decreased mothers’ leave by a similar amount. Both the sign and size of this effect
is in line with previous research, showing that these types of biases exist also in a society with top ratings on gender equality.
However, non-traditional families, with high maternal relative earnings and/or educational levels, showed even larger gender
biases which suggest that it may be mothers, rather than fathers, that are the driving force behind this child gender bias.
from Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. The results showed that a first-born son increased fathers’
parental leave with 0.6 days (1.5 %) and decreased mothers’ leave by a similar amount. Both the sign and size of this effect
is in line with previous research, showing that these types of biases exist also in a society with top ratings on gender equality.
However, non-traditional families, with high maternal relative earnings and/or educational levels, showed even larger gender
biases which suggest that it may be mothers, rather than fathers, that are the driving force behind this child gender bias.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original Paper
- Pages 1-14
- DOI 10.1007/s10834-012-9324-1
- Authors
- Elly-Ann Lindström, Uppsala Center for Labor Studies, Uppsala University, Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
- Journal Journal of Family and Economic Issues
- Online ISSN 1573-3475
- Print ISSN 1058-0476