More fathers are taking paternity leave, but mothers are still doing all the work
Attitudes towards paternity leave(陪产假) have drastically changed in America in the last five years as more fathers feel comfortable taking extended time off, but gender bias persists when it comes to career prospects and the home, according to a new study of working parents.
Research by the Boston College Center for Work & Family, which surveyed new parents at four large US companies who were qualified for taking at least six weeks paid parental leave, found that 81% of the 1,240 employees surveyed said the notion of fathers taking leave has become more acceptable.
Of those surveyed, 62% of fathers took the maximum amount of time off compared to 93% of mothers, and around three-quarters of workers said their employer was equally supportive of mothers and fathers taking parental leave and over half said leave policies had made workplace culture better.
The US is one of only three countries in the world not to offer statutory(法定的) paid leave, but increasingly states and companies are starting to take up the issue. So far, eight states and the District of Columbia have their own paid family leave laws.
Brad Harrington, executive director of the center and lead author of the study, estimates only 20% to 30% of companies in the US offer paid parental leave. He feels the research findings reflect an obvious change in corporate attitudes to new fathers taking time off.
"We did a study on paternity leave five years ago. Compared with those findings, these numbers were shocking to me. I did not expect 80% of people to say the organisation finds dads taking this leave acceptable and three-quarters to say it's equally supportive of women and men taking leave," Harrington said.
The previous study found that nearly three-quarters of fathers saw two to four weeks as an appropriate duration for paternity leave and 76% said they would prefer not to take all their time off at once.
Since then, there have been a number of legal cases against companies involving paternity leave—including cases against JPMorgan Chase and Estee Lauder—which have helped put pressure on companies to make their parental leave policies gender neutral.
However, the study also shows how traditional gender roles endure both at work, where more women than men reported changes in their perceived career potential, and at home—even among workers who claim to have a strong desire for equality.
The vast majority of men, 97%, said one of the top reasons to take leave was to share caregiving with their partner. But when they were asked about how caregiving and household tasks were divided, their answers painted a different picture. While about 75% of employees said both genders should give the same amount of care, the majority of men and nearly half of women admitted that in reality the female actually did most of it. A tiny fraction, 2%, of men said they did more of the childcare.
Men and women's experiences of the return to work following parental leave were also considerably different. Of the women surveyed, 32% reported a downturn in their job satisfaction, while 14% said it increased. In comparison, 17% of men said their job satisfaction went down and 20% said it went up. Meanwhile, more women reported an increase in their responsibilities and manager expectations after childbirth. Half of the women said they used flexible work arrangements after becoming a parent, while just 27% of men did. Similar percentages of men and women said they enjoyed their careers and that it gave them a sense of achievement, while around half of women and 44% of men said it was a key part of their identity.
On the subject of career advancement, 59% of women and 49% of men said leave could be limiting and both genders said they feared it would have an impact on their progress long-term. But on opportunity for promotion, more than double the number of women, 30% compared with 15% of men, believed their chances to be lower after becoming a parent. Despite progress, the struggle for women to reach the highest positions of power is demonstrated in this year's Fortune 500 list, which featured a record 33 female CEOs, but this still represents a tiny fraction of the total.
Harrington said culture change depends on companies putting more focus on men and their responsibilities. "By that I mean companies need to give men paternity leave and encourage men to take time off to be with their kids early on in the kids' life. They also need to recognise that men have to make significant adjustments when they become parents. Companies cannot do all these things to enhance women's advancement and then turn around and say, 'Oh, but we don't expect the men to take over for the women at home.'"
In May, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Outten & Golden LLP announced a historic class-action $5m settlement with JPMorgan Chase on behalf of male employees who claim they were illegally denied access to paid parental leave. Derek Rotondo, 35, filed the discrimination charge against his company after he was allegedly told by his HR department that mothers were considered primary caregivers. Thus, they were allowed to take 16 weeks of paid parental leave. Fathers, however, could take just two weeks.
The father of two from Columbus, Ohio, who still works at the company as an associate and investigator, said he has witnessed a "domino effect(多米诺效应)" across companies since the settlement, but that there is still substantial progress to be made towards changing attitudes towards paternity leave.
"I do think there's still some way to go…there's still going to be sort of the unstated expectation for new dads to essentially come right back to work, but I think the research is showing that's starting to change." He said equal parental leave is an essential component to creating gender equality in the workplace. "The old standard of women staying home, having babies and cooking doesn't apply and hasn't applied for a long time."