About the Action

Description of the Action

The Action aims to advance and disseminate research and knowledge about the significance of paid parental leave (PPL) for the social sustainability of societies. Our aim is to set the scene for future PPL research from the new perspective of social sustainability while making the field more coherent across disciplines and beyond academia.

The main challenges are to build the network, identify and fill gaps in PPL research, develop a future-oriented and cross-disciplinary PPL terminology, and facilitate future research by closing the PPL data gap.

Five Working Groups (WGs) will be established to focus on:

The development of a theoretical framework;
the identification of social inequalities through PPL policies;
the relevance of PPL for child development;
providing a future-oriented PPL terminology and
the expansion of PPL data.

Background

Over the last two decades, the role of parental leave entitlements for the employment protection and financial security of parents and their children has become more important in the European Union.

In 2019, the EU agreed on minimum standards for parental leave in the Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers, which to a great extent aims at harmonising parents’ social security across the European Union before, during and after the birth of a child. Still, there are large differences between European countries regarding parents’ social protection after the birth of a child. There is a need for systematic scientific discussion and research on the significance of PPL policies and their design for the development of European societies.

It is now beyond question that PPL policy entitlements are important elements of a welfare state, affecting both the economic and the social development of a society and thus contributing to the sustainability of societies. However, contemporary PPL research does not employ a systematic perspective on PPL as a component of social sustainability, which means that assessing the importance of PPL policy design for societies currently remains a challenge. A new theoretical framework is needed that captures the relevance of PPL policy design for the sustainability of societies and advances the focus in PPL research. The advancement of knowledge on PPL policy design elements and their impact on societies is crucial to making the right choices that improve 1) gender equality, 2) income equality, and 3) children’s welfare, all affecting the sustainability of current and future European societies. Therefore, there is a need for interdisciplinary collaboration and the systematic inclusion of Specific Organisations and policymakers into the discussion regarding the scope and the strategies for deriving new knowledge on PPL research.

Objectives

To achieve the main objective described in the MoU, the following specific objectives shall be accomplished:

Build an interdisciplinary, open, comprehensive and inclusive network to develop a common theoretical perspective on the significance of PPL for Sustainable Societies.

Identify research gaps in PPL research from the perspective of social sustainability together with academics and stakeholders across Europe and beyond, and coordinate collaboration to fill these gaps.

Coordinate the development of a common and sustainable PPL terminology to improve the evaluation and comparison of research findings on PPL policy design and their implications for the development of (in-) equalities in societies.

Identify and compile existing PPL research across disciplines and make a thematic categorised compilation of the literature accessible via the Action website to provide a unique and comprehensive interdisciplinary PPL research database.

Interact with key stakeholders from European surveys to discuss data gaps in PPL data and to coordinate joint data enlargement proposals.

Coordinate sessions at international conferences, Training Schools and Workshops to advance the academic discussion of the theoretical perspective on PPL and its relevance for social sustainability, systematically including Early Career Investigators (ECIs) and other young researchers to sustain innovative PPL research.

Coordinate interdisciplinary and cross-country third-party funding proposals to enhance future PPL research with a perspective of social sustainability.

Coordinate a series of scientific publications which are suitable for advancing the knowledge and the discussion of the relevance of PPL policy design for sustainable societies.

Cooperate with stakeholders and policymakers and coordinate the provision of timely information on research findings for these groups in an easily accessible form, e.g. in the form of short videos, policy briefs and white papers.

Support EU Institutions in monitoring the Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.