Equal in Sharing, Unequal in Care: Social Differences in Attitudes toward Shared Parental Leave in European Societies

This study explores how public attitudes toward the introduction of shared parental leave (SPL) as a legal measure for childcare vary across European societies. Specifically, it examines how individual-level characteristics and country-level characteristics related to gender equality and parental leave (PL) policy arrangements shape men and women’s attitudes.

Drawing on data from the European Social Survey (2022/23), a random-intercept logit model was applied to analyze the relationship between individual and contextual factors and support for a legal measure requiring both parents to take equal periods of paid leave. The dependent variable distinguishes between negative or neutral versus positive attitudes toward the introduction of such a legal measure.

Individual-level variables include age, marital status, number of children, subjective household income, education, and place of residence. Contextual indicators encompass the Gender Equality Index (overall score and domains of work, money, and time), full-rate equivalent parental leave for mothers and fathers, shareable paid parental leave (in weeks), the full-time employment rate of mothers with children aged 0–14, and public expenditure on family leave per live birth (in current USD PPP).

Results indicate that in societies with advanced gender equality, support for a rigid legal requirement mandating equal parental leave is weaker, while flexibility in leave use is more strongly endorsed as a means of promoting gender equality. Conversely, in societies with larger gender disparities, the introduction of an equal-split parental leave policy is more likely to be perceived as a step toward greater equity, fairness, and improved reconciliation of paid work and childcare.