Despite being most notable for its ungenerous policies, Australia’s Paid Parental Leave has increasingly incorporated changes to encourage fathers or secondary carers to take leave. But is it working? In today’s analysis, Deborah Widiss (@DeborahWidiss) of Indiana University (@IUMaurerLaw) compares Australia’s policies to the US, where uptake by fathers or secondary carers is much greater. This analysis is drawn from a recently-published article that can be found here.

When schools and daycares around the world shut down in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents desperately scrambled to cover childcare needs while also meeting their paid work responsibilities. In both the United States and Australia (and most other countries, as well), mothers bore a disproportionate share of this burden, with many dropping out of the workforce entirely for at least a period of time. That said, fathers in both countries helped pick up the slack.

Now that vaccines are gradually bringing the pandemic under control, it’s an opportune moment to assess how structural reforms can build on these changes. A growing body of research suggests that encouraging men to take parental leave can be a key strategy in facilitating more equal sharing of child care in general. Many fathers welcome the opportunity to spend time at home with a new baby, and it promotes long-term benefits for the whole family, as well as greater workplace equality.

Neither the U.S. nor Australia is generally considered a leader when it comes to parental leave. Until a decade ago, they shared the (infamous) distinction of being the only developed countries that failed to guarantee paid leave. But in 2011, Australian launched a paid leave program and, although the U.S. still lacks a federal law, a rapidly growing number of states have developed paid leave policies. And these new policies are strikingly different from virtually every other countries’ leave program, in that they have been gender-neutral since their inception.

Most countries have sex-specific policies. Mothers generally receive at least three months of paid leave. Fathers typically receive (at best) a week or two; more than half of all countries do not guarantee any paternity leave. Although some progressive countries provide gender-neutral parental leave that can be used after the statutory maternity and paternity leave, mothers use the vast majority of such shared leave as well.

Do Australia’s gender-neutral parental leave policies actually encourage equal parenting? Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

I’m a U.S.-based expert in parental leave policy, and I wanted to better understand the Australian parental leave scheme. With the support of a Fulbright senior scholar grant, I was able to spend a semester as a visiting scholar at the University Melbourne Law School Centre on Labour and Employment Law.

As I explain more fully in a recently-published academic article, I learned that even gender-neutral leave can enforce or disrupt gender norms. Australia’s policy, while nominally gender-neutral, provides extended benefits to a “primary” carer and much shorter benefits to a secondary carer. In the U.S., by contrast, each parent receives equal and non-transferable benefits.

Not surprisingly, the U.S. policy is more effective at encouraging fathers to take leave. In Australia, only a tiny percentage of benefits go to men. In several U.S. states, by contrast, men account for about 40% of total claims. That said, there are downsides to the American approach. The overall length of leave provided in the U.S. is still very short—and the policies make no adjustment for single-parent families, meaning they receive just half as much time as two-parent families.

Primary Caregiver or Shared Responsibility?

Although parental leave schemes enacted in Australia and the United States are both gender-neutral, they reflect distinctly different expectations around how parenting roles will—or should—be shared within families.

Australia’s policy assumes there were be a single primary caregiver for a new baby. The program provides up to 18 weeks of publicly-funded paid parental leave benefits, in the amount of the minimum wage, to the person who spends the most time providing physical care for the baby. The birth mother is the default primary carer, but she may transfer some or all of the weeks of the benefits to a father or other primary carer. A separate provision provides up to two weeks of “Dad and Partner Pay” (DAPP) that may be claimed by the child’s father or the partner of a birth mother. Most Australian companies adopt the same general approach to any privately-provided benefits: a long maternity leave or primary carer leave and a short paternity leave or secondary carer leave.

In the United States, by contrast, both public and private policies typically provide equal benefits to each parent. Although the U.S. still lacks a comprehensive federal program, nine states and the U.S. capital district provide paid benefits to new parents; this includes California and New York, meaning these state laws collectively cover a population that is far larger Australia’s total population. Although the first laws passed provided just four or six weeks of benefits, the newer state laws provide each parent up to twelve weeks of benefits for “bonding” with a new child. Some also provide birth mothers an additional period for medical recovery from childbirth, generally assumed to be six or eight weeks. Unlike Australian programs, these are individual and non-transferable benefits. If either parent does not use their allotted share, they are simply forfeited.

The U.S. policies otherwise offer parents considerable flexibility. The policies do not require designating either parent a “primary” caregiver. Rather, they assume that each parent will simply be a caregiver. Relatedly, parents can take leave at the same time or sequentially, or choose to combine those two approaches. For example, both parents might take two weeks of leave at the time of birth, then the mother could use the rest of her time and, when her time is exhausted, the father could use the rest of his. The same general structure applies to same-sex couples, so long as each is recognized as a parent of the baby.

The American structure, which is based on an earlier federal law that provides unpaid leave, was consciously designed to shift gender norms so that both fathers and mothers would take time off. It is also likely required by American anti-discrimination law, which generally holds that providing special benefits to mothers—beyond the period of time where they are physically affected by pregnancy or childbirth—is unlawful sex discrimination.

A tiny sliver vs. almost half

The Australian and U.S. policies represent distinctly different ways of structuring a gender-neutral leave policy. Early data suggests men make up only a tiny fraction of claimants in Australia, while under the American approach they have risen steadily and are now approaching parity.

In Australia, birth mothers are the default primary carers. Although they can transfer their benefits to fathers or partners, less than one percent do so. Men, by contrast, claim virtually all DAPP benefits. Based on this data, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency issued a report concluding women claim more than 99% of parental leave benefits; see Figure 1. While technically correct, this figure is somewhat distorting as it excludes DAPP entirely. However, the basic point is correct: Despite its gender-neutral structure, Australia’s public parental leave benefits are used almost exclusively by women. The same is true for private benefits, with women claiming 94% of primary carer benefits.

Figure 1: Compared to both many OECD countries and some US states, Australia’s leave policies do not appear to encourage fathers or secondary carers to take leave.

The picture in the United States is very different. Many of the state laws are still being phased in. However, data from the states where laws have been in place for several years show men make up a relatively large—and growing—share of claimants. California’s law is the oldest. When first enacted in 2004, men accounted for just 15% of child bonding claims. By 2019, that number had increased to 39%. In Rhode Island, men’s share rose from 32% to 41%. In New York, men made up 30% of claims in the first year of operation. These rates are quite close to those of international leaders like Sweden and Iceland, and far above the average for developed countries of 18%. Additionally, although men take on average less time off than women, a significant share of fathers claim four or six weeks of leave (the maximum allowed at the point when the data was collected). In other words, these fathers are providing infant care for extended periods of time.

Designing Leave Policies to Encourage Shared Parenting

Both Australia and the United States are different from many other countries in that men can take a significant period of time off work to provide infant care. However, that does not necessarily mean men will take a significant period of time off to provide infant care—and so far, dads in the United States have been more likely to do so than dads in Australia. As in any cross-country comparison, there are likely multiple factors that contribute to these differences. That said, research on parental leave policies around the world suggests the particular way in which the U.S. structures its gender-neutral policy is likely a key factor.

As already mentioned, most countries provide long maternity leaves and short paternity leaves, with some providing an additional period of shared parental leave that can be used by either parent. Research from multiple countries suggests a key strategy for raising men’s usage has been reserving a portion of this shared leave. These policies are often known as “use-it-or-lose-it” leave or a “father’s quota.” In 2019, the European Union issued a directive that countries should structure at least two months of parental leave as non-transferable. However, even in countries generally considered quite progressive, mothers can claim well over half of total available benefits.

The U.S. policies differ from the model used in most other countries in that leave is provided to individual parents rather than shared. In practice, however, the U.S. has a very strong version of a use-it-or-lose-it policy, in that half of available benefits are reserved to fathers. Australia, by contrast, does not require any portion of parental leave benefits to be used by fathers, although DAPP is functionally a short period of use-it-or-lose-it leave.

There are other differences that may also help explain men’s relatively high rate of the use in the U.S. The pay rate in the U.S. is also considerably higher, at least for middle to high earners. Australia’s public program provides benefits at the minimum wage, currently about $770 AUD / week. In the U.S. programs, by contrast, workers earn between two-thirds and 100% of regular earnings, up to caps set around the state’s median wage. The caps currently range from about $1050 AUD to $1800 AUD ($780 USD to $1350 USD).

Research (and common sense) also suggests that men will be unlikely to claim leave if they fear doing so will open them up to discrimination at work. A detailed report issued by Australia’s Human Rights Commission found shockingly high levels of alleged discrimination against both men and women who took leave. Such discrimination exists in the U.S., as well, but both mothers and fathers have won large trial awards or settlements when challenging denials of leave or unfair treatment at work related to family responsibilities.

Government and private messaging can also be important. In the U.S., the state websites promoting parental leave policies feature prominently pictures of men with babies, and they have sections specifically aimed at fathers. Australia’s parental leave website, by contrast, assumes that birth mothers will generally be the primary carer. It does not make obvious that benefits can be transferred, let alone use pictures or other messaging to help normalize this idea.

There are other, larger structural differences between care patterns in the two countries that may help explain the difference in men’s claim rates. In addition to paid parental leave benefits, Australia also guarantees most workers at least a year of unpaid parental leave, with the possibility of extending this for a second year. Accordingly, it is quite common for new mothers to take between six months and a year off work, receiving government benefits during part of this time, as well as any additional parental leave benefits from their employer and other accrued paid time off. In the United States, by contrast, most workers receive at most three months of unpaid leave. In fact, men’s high take-up of leave may reflect the very short amount of time that is available to mothers. When initially enacted, California provided each parent just six weeks of benefits, and Rhode Island just four. The newer state laws, by contrast, typically provide each parent a full twelve weeks of benefits, with birth mothers also often eligible for additional time for medical recovery from childbirth. Accordingly, it will be important to assess whether these patterns remain consistent as newer laws with more generous leave periods are fully phased in.

Additionally, although their maternal employment rates are relatively similar, it is far more common in Australia than in the U.S. for mothers to work part-time. Thus, while in the U.S., many new mothers take three months or less time off work and then return to a full-time job, in Australia, new mothers generally take a more extended leave and then work part-time. These norms create less incentive for fathers to use a share of governmental parental leave benefits. Rather, to the extent fathers may (reasonably) fear that taking leave could jeopardize their own employment security, they are unlikely to do so, precisely because their income will be particularly essential in the coming years.

A new normal?

The pandemic radically disrupted virtually all patterns of life, including family caretaking. As parents scrambled to meet needs, many fathers took on a more central role. Australia and the U.S. have laid the groundwork for fathers to do the same when new children are born or adopted by adopting gender-neutral leave. But to truly realize this potential, Australian policy makers might want to look to the U.S. for ideas on how to encourage more dads to take advantage of this possibility. And U.S. policymakers, in turn, should look to Australia to replace the current patchwork of state-based protections with a national paid leave policy and other provisions like access to flexible work schedules that can help support working parents of both sexes.

This post is part of the Women's Policy Action Tank initiative to analyse government policy using a gendered lens. View our other policy analysis pieces here.

Posted by @SusanMaury

How ‘Neutral’ are Gender-Neutral Parental Leave Policies?