Gender Differences in the Intended Use of Parental Leave: Implications for Human Capital Development
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Gender Differences in the Intended Use of Parental Leave: Implications for Human Capital Development Derek T. Tharp1 · Elizabeth J. Parks‑Stamm2 Accepted: 3 October 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study examined gender differences in the intended use of parental leave benefits. In a targeted sample of relevant adult respondents (i.e., adults aged 25–45 who work full-time, plan to have children, and are in a financially stable marriage or domestic partnership; N = 82), large gender differences were observed in work-related attitudes, intended leave, desired leave for spouse/partner, and intended use of time during mandatory parental leave. Despite men and women reporting similar attitudes towards caring for children and sharing equally in caregiving responsibilities, men consistently reported planning to take less time away from work for parental leave than women, and both men and women reported a desire for their partners to take leave periods differing in ways consistent with traditional gender roles. The structure of leave benefits was found to influence gender leave gaps, with paid leave tending to decrease the gap and longer leave availability tending to increase the gap. In mandatory leave scenarios, men were significantly more likely than women to report intentions to use mandatory leave for human capital development, such as taking on additional work, searching for new employment, catching up on projects for a current employer, learning new job-relevant skills, and exploring new business ideas. Implications regarding human capital development are discussed. Keywords Parental leave · Family leave · Gender differences · Gender leave gap · Gender pay gap Jel Classification D13 · J13 · J16 PsycINFO Codes 2950 · 2956 · 2970 Although gender inequality in wages has gradually declined over the last decades, the motherhood wage penalty has not improved for women (Avellar and Smock 2003), particularly among lower income earners (Glauber 2018). Between 1980 and 2013, the estimated percentage of the gender pay discrepancy explained by motherhood has risen from 40 to 80% (Kleven et al. 2019), meaning that the vast majority of the current gender pay gap is actually a motherhood pay gap. According to a recent meta-analysis, the motherhood penalty in the United States is approximately 4% per child, * Derek T. Tharp [email protected] 1
Department of Finance and Accounting, University of Southern Maine, 96 Falmouth St, Portland, ME 04103, USA
Department of Psychology, University of Southern Maine, 96 Falmouth St, Portland, ME 04103, USA
2
controlling for all other factors influencing women’s wages (de Linde Leonard and Stanley 2020).
Human Capital Theory A number of explanations have been proposed to explain the motherhood pay gap: productivity (i.e., mothers are less productive than non-mothers), job selection (e.g., mothers choose less well-paying jobs in favor of flexibility), discrimination (i.e., employers discriminate against moth
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