Survey finds that most men do not take up parental leave
The findings of a Eurobarometer survey published in September 2004 indicate that the majority of men in the EU are aware of their right to take parental leave, but are not taking it up. The reasons for this include financial worries, a lack of information about the leave and concerns about career development.
The European Commission-funded research organisation, Eurobarometer, released on 10 September 2004 the findings of a survey entitled Europeans’ attitude to parental leave.
The research asked 2,819 current or prospective fathers across the 'old' EU 15 about the issue of parental leave. It found that 2,108 (or 75%) of respondents knew about their entitlement to parental leave - under the 1996 parental leave Directive (96/34/EC), parents have the right to parental leave of at least three months for children until a given age of up to eight years, to be defined at Member State level. However, 84% of the respondents who knew about their rights said that they had not taken parental leave or were not intending to do so. When asked why, 18% of respondents said that they could not afford to take parental leave.
When the survey asked its whole male sample of 5,688 (not just current or prospective fathers), 42% said that lack of finances was the main reason why they would not take parental leave. The 1996 EU Directive does not give entitlement to paid parental leave, although many Member States provide for some or all of the leave to be paid (TN0403101S).
Around 31% of the total male sample said that they felt that parental leave would have an adverse effect on their career, and just over one in five said that they did not want to interrupt their careers. In addition, 34% said that they did not have enough information about parental leave. In total, 19% of men saw parental leave as something that women tended to take rather than men.
The survey found that there were differences in responses between Member States. For example, 34% of men in Sweden, 10% in Denmark and 9% in Finland said that they had taken or were considering taking parental leave, compared with 0% in Luxembourg and 1% in Austria, Germany, Spain, Ireland and Portugal.
The respondents were asked to identify factors that could, in their view, increase the take-up of parental leave by men. These includes:
- better financial compensation;
- improved guarantees regarding jobs and careers during or after parental leave;
- better information about parental leave;
- a more open-minded attitude on the part of superiors and colleagues; and
- the possibility of splitting leave or taking leave on a part-time basis.