Parental Leave in Spain: Use, Motivations and Implications

Gerardo Meil; Pedro Romero-Balsas; Jesús Rogero-García

doi:10.22325/fes/res.2018.32

Authors

Gerardo Meil Departamento de Sociología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Pedro Romero-Balsas Departamento de Sociología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Jesús Rogero-García Departamento de Sociología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22325/fes/res.2018.32

Keywords:

Leave policy, work-life balance, childcare, parenthood, Spain.

Abstract

In Spain as in other countries, advances in childcare leave policy have aimed to encourage leave-taking by both parents. Based on the survey Social use of parental leave 2012, this study explores the characteristics of and underlying motivations for leave-taking, as well as the implications for careers, focusing in particular on gender differences. While the analysis reveals only moderate gender-based differences where paid leave was concerned, unpaid leave was taken primarily by women or by the parent with the most favourable working conditions. The reasons for using unpaid leaves revolved essentially around a desire to spend more time with or breast-feed the baby beyond the termination of paid leave, although contributing to the partner’s job security also entered into the equation. The study showed that in addition to economic costs, taking unpaid parental leave entails a setback in a significant percentage of men and women’s careers.

Author Biographies

Gerardo Meil, Departamento de Sociología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Professor in Sociology at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). Master Degree in Economics and in Political Science, and Doctorate in Sociology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1987. President of the European Society on Family Relations and member of several scientific societies. His research and publications focus on Family Sociology, Gender Violence, Mobility and Social Policy. For a full vita see his web-page at http://www.uam.es/gerardo.meil

Pedro Romero-Balsas, Departamento de Sociología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Lecturer at the Department of Sociology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He holds a PhD in Sociology (with distinction) from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2014. He has a bachelor in Sociology (Universidad de Alicante, 2008). He has a master’s degree in Social Anthropology (Universidad de Murcia, 2010) and a Master’s Diploma in Multivariate Statistical Techniques (UNED, 2009). He has been visiting researcher fellow at Thomas Coram Research Unit (University College London), at the Federal Institute for Population Research (Germany) and at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the NTNU (Norway). His research areas are Sociology of Families, Parental Leave, Fatherhood, Parenthood, Multicultural Families, Job Mobility and Public Policies.

Jesús Rogero-García, Departamento de Sociología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). He received his PhD in Sociology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His research interests include inequalities in education, childcare and adult care. His last works have focused on different dimensions of leave policies and on some aspects of educational inequalities in Spain.