Gatekeepers or Enablers of Leave? Managerial Characteristics and the Uptake of (Un)Paid Parental Leave in Sweden

Flore Debruyne , Stockholm University

Fathers’ uptake of parental leave remains limited, even in gender-progressive contexts such as Sweden. While managers are important in shaping workplace support for parenthood, little is known about how their characteristics influence fathers’ leave-taking. This study investigates how managerial gender, age, education, and the managerial structure of the workplace are associated with fathers’ parental leave length. Using population-wide employer-employee linked administrative data, I identified the highest-earning manager in each workplace and linked them to fathers of first-born children born in 2017. OLS regressions estimated fathers’ paid, unpaid, and total parental leave days as Swedish parents combine paid parental benefit with the right to unpaid leave. Preliminary results show clear and consistent associations. Fathers with female managers took more leave than those with male managers, and those whose managers held a Bachelor’s degree or higher took substantially longer leave across all measures. Fathers in workplaces with a sole manager took less leave than those with multiple managers, while fathers with older managers took only slightly more leave. These associations extend across paid and unpaid leave. This study highlights the managerial level as an overlooked factor shaping fathers’ parental leave behavior.

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 Presented in Session P1. Families, Fertility, and the Life Course 1