25-28 March 2025 in Bielefeld, Germany
The conference was organised by Sonja Blum, one of our COST members, and her colleagues at the Bielefeld University. It featured a stream on Parenting Leaves, Care Leaves and (In)Equalities organised by WG2 co-leader Johanna Lammi-Taskula and WG5 co-leader Ivana Dobrotić, which for its popularity required three separate sessions.
Parenting Leaves, Care Leaves and (In)Equalities – Part I (Fathers)
Fathers as caring parents in the early phase of parenthood through the lens of hybrid masculinities. A praxeological approach. – Mag. Dr. Gerlinde Mauerer | University of Vienna | Austria
Parental leave and gender equality: Online criticism and justification of paternity leave in Austria – Mag.a Marlene Schuster | University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt | Austria
Impact of information on father’s parental leave use – Evidence from a randomized information experiment – Miia Saarikallio-Torp | The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Kela | Finland
A qualitative exploration of fathers’ wellbeing through their parental leave journeys – Jessica Hobbs | Birkbeck College, University of London | United Kingdom
Parenting Leaves, Care Leaves and (In)Equalities – Part II (Wage and Labour Market Impacts)
Parental leave of mothers and fathers: patterns, motives and labour market effects among married couples in Germany – Dr. Andreas Filser | Institute for Employment Research | Germany
The critical juncture of childbirth: applying a life course lens to disentangle the impact of leave policy and class on parental employment trajectories – Maximilian Reichert | Erasmus University Rotterdam | Netherlands
Take it or leave it: The relationships between the length of parental leave and ideal worker and mother norms in Germany and Israel – Dr. Anna M. Stertz | RWTH Aachen University | Germany & Dr. Ronit Waismel-Manor | The Open University of Israel | Israel
Economic Rewards for Non-Traditional Roles: The Wage Impact of Fatherhood in Spain – Prof. Irene Lapuerta | Public University of Navarre | Spain
Parenting Leaves, Care Leaves and (In)Equalities – Part III: (Knowledge on/use of parental leave, Sharing parental leave)
Shared leave, shared nights? A qualitative study on Finnish, British and Spanish parents’ accounts of sharing the parental leave and night-time care – Inka-Liisa Kuusiaho | University of Jyväskylä | Finland
Sustaining or disrupting gendered family practices? Examining the impacts of different parental leave patterns – Prof. Katherine Twamley | UCL | United Kingdom
Reasons for Limited Uptake of Paid Parental Leave in Shanghai, China – Zhenwei Wang | Bielefeld University | Germany
Became parent abroad: Implications of being migrant in the parenting identity and the use of parental leave. – Dr. Pedro Romero-Balsas | Spain
Other papers on Parental Leave and Social Sustainability presented by the COST members were:
Work-Life Balance for All Parents? Assessing the EU Work-Life Balance Agenda Inclusiveness, Flexibility and Complementarity – Ivana Dobrotić, University of Zagreb & Merve Uzunalioğlu, University of Oxford
Untangling the characteristics of men who dare to break the “ideal worker” norm – Dr Marc Grau-Grau | Universitat Internacional de Catalunya | Spain
Towards involved fatherhood? Shifting Polish fathers’ attitudes to parental leave amidst legislative changes to their leave entitlements – Prof. Anna Kurowska | University of Warsaw | Poland
Work-Life Balance policies for fathers and their impact on partner´s inequality in child care – Prof. Dr. Gerardo Meil | Universidad Autónoma de Madrid