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JOURNAL

10.1177/0192513X04270344
Galtry, Callister
OF FAMILY
/ ASSESSING
ISSUES
PARENTAL
/ March 2005
LEAVE

Assessing the Optimal Length


of Parental Leave for Child
and Parental Well-Being
How Can Research Inform Policy?

Judith Galtry
Paul Callister
Victoria University

Parental leave is a complex area of public policy. Concerns include health protection for
working mothers, equal employment opportunities for women, access to adequate antenatal
and birthing care, maternal recovery, optimal nutrition for infants, and gender equality within
families. Given this complexity, the design of parental leave schemes, including the optimal
length of leave, should ideally be based on research from a wide range of disciplines. Yet re-
search literature generally focuses on single issues. In this article, the focus is widened to en-
compass mothers’ labor market outcomes, concerns surrounding childbirth and maternal re-
covery, parent-infant bonding, children’s cognitive development, breastfeeding, and
associated with each of these, gender equity objectives. In light of information from a wide
range of disciplines and based on two country models, Sweden and the United States, it is
proposed that discussions about parental leave policy, including the appropriate length of
leave, should take a broad, interdisciplinary perspective.

Keywords: parental leave; health; labor markets; gender equality

Parental leave is a particularly complex and contentious area of public


policy (International Labour Organization, 1997; Kamerman, 2000; Moss
& Deven, 1999; OECD, 1995). Concerns include health protection for
working mothers, equal opportunities for women workers, gender equity
in the home, access to adequate antenatal and birthing care, and also the is-
sue of payment, including who pays and how much (Heitlinger, 1993). Pa-
rental leave policy is relevant not only to parents and children but also to
employers, co-workers, and the wider society. Given all these interest
groups, as well as the multiple and sometimes conflicting goals behind

Authors’ Note: This study was supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
while the authors were working at the Cornell Employment and Family Careers Institute,
Cornell University, N.Y. We would like to thank Professor Phyllis Moen for her support.

JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES, Vol. 26 No. 2, March 2005 219-246


DOI: 10.1177/0192513X04270344
© 2005 Sage Publications
219
220 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

various parental/maternity leave policies, it is perhaps not surprising that


views about parental leave are widely divergent.
Due to the complexity of parental leave discussions, research often fo-
cuses on only one aspect of leave. For instance, in the labor market litera-
ture, there is concern about how “time out” might affect earnings for
mothers, with the implications for parent-infant bonding and attachment
receiving little attention. In the health arena, consideration is given to the
optimal length of leave necessary for both recovery from childbirth and
breastfeeding, but the potential effects of leave policies on gender equity
goals are not at the forefront of concerns. This article attempts to cross
some of these disciplinary boundaries so that individual parents, profes-
sionals advising families, and those designing family policy might better
gauge the optimal period of parental leave. Although some of the issues
covered in this article are also relevant to adoption, the main focus is on
leave associated with biological parenthood.
This review examines concerns associated with parental leave. These
include labor market outcomes with particular relevance to women, child-
birth and maternal recovery, parent-infant bonding, children’s cognitive
development, and breastfeeding. With these issues in mind, two very dif-
ferent models of leave—that of the United States and of Sweden—are
then explored. In the United States, at the federal level only 3 months of
unpaid leave are available under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA), and eligibility criteria are restrictive, ruling out many contingent
workers. By contrast, Sweden provides 480 days of paid parental leave
with almost universal eligibility. However, it is also recognized that within
particular countries, individual families will inevitably have their own sets
of preferences and constraints, regardless of statutory provisions for
leave. At this level also, then, decisions about the optimal length of leave
are likely to be multifaceted and complex.
In undertaking this review, there is awareness that factors other than
those listed influence the optimal duration of leave. In particular, the na-
ture, availability, and quality of early childhood education and care provi-
sions that might be seen in many situations as an alternative to taking pa-
rental leave are significant factors in determining the best possible length
of leave. However, while important, the issue of the effects of child care is
extremely complex and should be the subject of a separate discussion
(Galtry, 2002; McGovern, Gjerdingen, & Froberg, 1992).
Finally, whereas researchers generally hope that policy will be based
on up-to-date, high-quality research, in reality, research often has little di-
rect influence on policy making (e.g., Shulock, 1999). Policymaking is a
highly complex process, often involving a mix of personal views, popular
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 221

discourse, political bargaining, and the weighing of finite taxpayer re-


sources against uncertain policy outcomes. As an example of this, the
United States’ 1993 FMLA involved major trade-offs to secure the sup-
port of both Democrats and moderate Republicans. However, even though
such trade-offs are inevitable, researchers still have a responsibility to try
to identify “best practice” with the hope of better informing future debates
around parental leave policy. This is ultimately the aim of this article.

PARENTAL LEAVE, LABOR MARKET


OUTCOMES, AND HOUSEHOLD INCOME

If a mother leaves employment during pregnancy or after the birth of a


child, she potentially faces some or all of the following costs:

• loss of earnings while not employed


• loss of on-the-job training opportunities
• depreciation of skills and experience and, at times, loss of confidence about
participating in paid work
• costs associated with signaling a lack of commitment to employers
• reinforcement of traditional roles and responsibilities if, in two-parent, het-
erosexual families, the mother leaves paid work and the father takes over
the role of sole “breadwinner”1

Parents potentially confront these costs whether or not they have the
right to return to their job. However, some of the costs outlined above are
more applicable to individuals in career-type occupations rather than to
those in “dead-end” jobs. For example, some jobs have little or no on-the-
job training, and employers may not necessarily expect contingent work-
ers to have high levels of commitment. By contrast, for managers and pro-
fessionals, signaling high commitment and loyalty to the company may be
very important.
If those parents taking “time out” do not have a guaranteed right to job
protection, they potentially face further costs. These include the costs of
job searches and possible unintended unemployment when wishing to re-
enter the labor force and loss of work-related benefits, such as subsidized
health care, retirement income, and length of service-related benefits.
The costs of undertaking unpaid caring work are well-documented
(e.g., Folbre, 1994, 2001; Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2000;
National Alliance for Caregiving and National Center on Women and Ag-
ing, 1999; Wisensale, 2001). However, these costs tend to vary between
countries. In those nations with well-developed and publicly funded
222 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

health care systems, such as Sweden, a period of time out from employ-
ment will not reduce access to health care in the same way that it often
does in the United States. Nor will loss of household income be as great in
those countries that have paid parental leave. Whereas it is difficult to de-
termine any causal relationship between the generosity of parental leave
schemes and the length of leave taken, certainly in the United States the
lack of taxpayer-funded payment is associated with the uptake of rela-
tively short leaves. In Sweden in 1995, 98% of mothers and 18% of fathers
took 60 or more days of parental leave (Swedish National Social Insur-
ance Board, 2001).2 In contrast, in the United States when asked about
length of longest leave by reason for leave, only 29% of respondents to the
Department of Labor’s 2000 FMLA survey reported taking more than 60
days for maternity or disability leave, whereas 10% reported taking a sim-
ilar period of leave to care for a newborn, adopted, or foster child (U.S.
Department of Labor, 2000). This research also suggests that many
American parents would take more leave if they received financial
support.
Even in countries where leave is paid, there is some concern that long-
term earnings are potentially reduced if leave periods are extended. There
is a wide range of international literature quantifying the long-term costs
of time out of paid work, particularly for women. Much of this research
draws either directly or indirectly on human capital theory. Central to
these understandings is the concept that tenure in paid work has a major
impact on earnings. Examples of links between time spent in work and
earnings have been found in a number of countries. For example, in the
United States Shapiro and Mott (1994) found that wage premiums are
substantially higher for women who are strongly attached to the labor
force than for those with relatively weak labor market links. Using British
longitudinal data, Waldfogel (1995) found a large wage premium associ-
ated with the use of maternity leave and return to work relative to quitting
work. This finding is supported by subsequent research in both Britain
and the United States (Joshi, Paci, & Waldfogel, 1999; Waldfogel, 1998).
Ruhm (1998a), analyzing the economic consequences of paid parental
leave in nine European countries between 1969 and 1993, notes that pa-
rental leave is associated with increases in women’s employment but re-
ductions in women’s relative wages in those contexts where long-term
leaves are common. In Sweden, Stafford and Sundström (1994) also mea-
sured the effects of time out of the labor force because of the birth of a
child. They suggest that although there are significant costs associated
with taking time out of paid work in Sweden, long-term earnings tend to
recover. They also found that the costs were particularly high for men. Ac-
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 223

cording to Stafford and Sundström, some of the costs of time out of the
workforce for men are attributable to “signaling” effects, namely, the per-
ception that such men are less committed to their careers. They also ob-
serve that in the United States there is a particularly high career cost asso-
ciated with time out to care for children. One explanation might be that in
countries with a high level of income inequality, such as the United States,
a period of time out of the workplace can be particularly expensive if,
through signaling lowered commitment, it serves to slow promotion (Bell
& Freeman, 2001). It is also likely that social norms play a role in deter-
mining the cost of time out of paid work. But social norms do not neces-
sarily operate independently of economic incentives. Sweden is an exam-
ple of a country in which there is strong financial reinforcement for
parents to take time out following childbirth.
Although research establishes that a long-term attachment to the labor
force offers significant advantages for many workers in terms of lifetime
earnings, this does not mean that taking a period of leave inevitably harms
labor market prospects. There is clearly much variation in the effects on
various groups and individuals of taking time out of paid work. These ef-
fects are dependent on factors such as levels of formal education, prior
work experience and employment patterns following the birth of a child,
occupational status, length of leave, the number of leaves taken over a life
cycle, and employer attitudes. For parents with a pattern of intermittent at-
tachment to the labor market, the costs of additional time out in terms of
income growth are likely to be relatively low, even nil. The behavior of a
parent following the period of leave can be just as important as the length
of leave taken. For example, after a short period of leave, a full-time
worker may undertake reduced weekly hours of paid work. This could
have a greater effect on his or her long-term earnings than taking a longer
period of leave followed by a return to full-time employment. The benefits
of remaining “attached” to one employer also depend on the state of the la-
bor market. In a period of full employment, re-entry into paid work may
be relatively easy for some groups of workers. In addition, the cost of time
out to mothers is not only dependent on their own behavior, but it is also
determined by the behavior of both women and men who take no leave
around childbirth and of individuals without children. Below-replacement
fertility rates in most industrialized countries indicate that a significant
proportion of women (and men) are no longer having children.
In Nordic countries, there has been much emphasis on encouraging fa-
thers to increase their uptake of parental leave. These efforts recognize the
advantages to both children and fathers themselves of the latter’s involve-
ment in child rearing, the potential costs to women associated with their
224 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

disproportionate uptake of leave, and the right, and indeed the responsibil-
ity, of men to be fully involved fathers (Carlsen, 1998; European Commis-
sion, 1994). In Sweden, encouraging men to take leave has been shown to
have direct positive effects for women. For instance, Haas and Hwang
(1999) report that mothers experience less of a decline in income from
prechildbirth levels if their partners take a greater-than-average share of
family leave entitlement.
Finally, although not generally discussed in the parental leave litera-
ture, the number of times an individual takes leave may be just as impor-
tant as the length of each leave. For example, the effect on a parent’s career
of taking a 12-month leave period for one child may be far less than a par-
ent of four children taking four periods of 6 months’ leave.
In a review of the labor market literature, Blau, Ferber, and Winkler
(2001) conclude that if parents demonstrate a strong labor market attach-
ment prior to having children, a relatively short leave with a return to the
same employer and to the same work pattern is likely to result in low or
negligible lifetime earning costs. Generally, a short leave is determined to
be around 3 months and a long leave 9 months or more (Ruhm, 1998a).
Where individuals already exhibit a weak attachment to the labor force,
additional time out is likely to have little impact on their income growth.
By contrast, if there is no paid leave available, the actual loss of income
while out of the labor force is very important for this group (Callister,
2002). Payment potentially allows a much larger group to take time out of
work and to use longer periods of leave. It also signifies recognition by so-
ciety that some parents might underinvest in leave if relying on their own
financial resources. Therefore, in those situations where parents are to-
tally dependent on their own financial means, the optimal length of paren-
tal leave may be quite different than what appears to be “best practice”
based on medical and other research.

PREGNANCY, CHILDBIRTH,
AND MATERNAL RECOVERY

A number of researchers have tried to estimate the optimal time out of


work around pregnancy and childbirth from the perspective of maternal
health. In terms of the prebirth period, if an employee’s occupational envi-
ronment is potentially hazardous, she may need to be transferred to an-
other job within the same firm or, if this is not possible, take a period of
leave for her entire pregnancy. There are also certain medical conditions
that require that women rest during various stages of pregnancy. More-
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 225

over, there is a high prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints among


pregnant workers that are potentially exacerbated by heavy physical
workloads (Treffers, 2000). Many workers, particularly those in non-
manual occupations, are nevertheless able to continue working during the
later stages of pregnancy.
In some settings, leave taken prior to childbirth may reduce the amount
of leave time available in the postnatal period. This potentially disadvan-
tages those employees whose occupations and job conditions pose diffi-
culties to working throughout most of the pregnancy, but who neverthe-
less wish to take a period of postnatal leave to spend time with their
newborn.
In the postbirth period, the length of time required for optimal recovery
from childbirth also depends on a range of factors. These include the birth
experience as well as a host of other emotional, physiological, and
sociocultural factors. For instance, maternal recovery is usually longer for
women who have given birth by cesarean section. The United States has
high rates of cesarean section births relative to many other countries
(Gerrard, 2001). In private hospitals in America, the cesarean section rate
is about 40%, compared to 25% in the public sector. By contrast, nearly
20% of births in the United Kingdom are by cesarean section. 3
Research undertaken in the United States also shows that a period of
leave following childbirth substantially assists mothers’ physical and
mental well-being (Gjerdingen, Froberg, & Kochevar, 1991; McGovern et al.,
1997). The McGovern et al. (1997) study found that longer maternity
leaves were associated with improved health after childbirth, although ef-
fects were nonlinear. Women taking leaves of 12, 15, and 20 weeks or
more duration after childbirth reported greater vitality (>12 weeks), better
mental health (>15 weeks), and fewer limitations to their daily roles (>20
weeks).
In a review of the effect of parental leave on maternal physical and
mental heath, Lero (2003) discusses how a wide range of factors influence
the optimal length of leave. While Tulman and Fawcett (1991) have esti-
mated that full recovery from childbirth can take up to 6 months or longer,
other researchers note the effect of duration is also influenced by factors
such as spousal and community support, marital concerns, the overall
health of the mother, and infant temperament (Clark, Hyde, Essex &
Klein, 1997; McKim, Cramer, Stuart, & O’Connor, 1999; Weinraub &
Jaeger, 1991).
With regard to leave duration and maternal mental health, Lero (2003)
observes that it may not be involvement in employment or staying at home
that is important but rather role quality, that is, the fit between a mother’s
226 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

actual and preferred role. Women who stay at home for extended periods
but are concerned about role restrictions are at risk of depression.
Finally, the benefits of time out of work to undertake a period of breast-
feeding have traditionally been viewed, at least in many industrialized
countries, as primarily accruing to the child (see next section). There is in-
creasing evidence, however, of physiological and emotional benefits to
mothers associated with breastfeeding. These include possible protective
effects against breast cancer in premenopausal women (Newcomb et al.,
1994), ovarian cancer (Gwinn, Lee, Rhodes, Layde, & Rubin, 1990;
Hartge et al., 1989), and osteoporosis (Blaauw et al., 1994). One study
also suggests that women who have been breastfed as infants have less
chance of developing breast cancer in later life (Freudenheim et al., 1994).
In relation to paid employment, both mothers and fathers or other partners
may benefit from a breastfed child, as there is some indication that breast-
fed babies are less likely to become ill and thus be excluded from child
care (Jones & Matheny, 1993). It is, however, difficult to determine from
these studies the optimal duration of breastfeeding, including whether it is
exclusive or partial, in terms of providing these benefits to mothers. Re-
cent research on the association between breastfeeding and breast cancer
nevertheless concludes that longer breastfeeding duration is strongly as-
sociated with reduced risk of breast cancer, having implications for
women in developed countries, such as the United States (Collaborative
Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer, 2002). Breastfeeding also
offers mothers a range of other less easily quantifiable advantages in terms
of their own well-being and self-esteem, as well as enhanced bonding
with their offspring (Labbok, 2001).
Overall, the literature on pregnancy, childbirth, and maternal recovery
suggests that optimal leave duration will vary according to a wide range of
factors, including the relative ease or difficulty of the individual’s preg-
nancy and childbirth. However, there is some indication that the optimal
length of leave is likely to be in the order of months rather than weeks or
days, particularly postbirth.

PARENTAL LEAVE AND CHILD HEALTH

FETAL AND NEWBORN HEALTH

A period of time out of the workplace or a transfer to lighter work has


been shown in some studies to reduce the risk of having a preterm or low
birthweight infant, particularly among employees with heavy workloads
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 227

(Treffers, 2000). In a review of maternity protection in both developed and


developing countries, Treffers (2000) notes that whereas it is difficult to
draw any definitive conclusion about the relationship between working
conditions and preterm birth, the potential consequences of prematurity
(especially before 33 weeks) poses “such a considerable risk to the infant
that any excess of pre-term birth caused by working conditions should be
prevented, if possible, by adequate measures” (p. 2). Moreover, research
shows an association between an individual’s birthweight and his or her
subsequent risk of ischemic heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes
mellitus (Barker, 1994). In the United States, low birthweight is also the
primary cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality (Stevens-Simon &
Orleans, 1999).
One study that has examined parental leave entitlements specifically in
relation to child health is Ruhm’s (2000b) analysis of 16 European nations
in the period between 1969 and 1994. Focusing on the postbirth period
from the 28th day after birth through the 1st year, Ruhm found that
postnatal parental leave entitlements have a substantial effect in reducing
infant mortality during early childhood. He attributed this, in large part, to
the additional time afforded by leave for parents to invest in their infants.
Ruhm concluded that “parental leave may be a cost-effective method of
bettering child health” and that parental time is “an important input into
the well-being of children” (p. 933). However, it is difficult in such studies
to isolate a single factor such as parental leave entitlements from the wider
social context, including support for public health programs.

BREASTFEEDING

In recent years, research has increasingly focused on the relationship


between maternal employment and breastfeeding practice (e.g., Auer-
bach & Guss, 1984; Gielen, Faden, O’Campo, Hendricks-Brown, &
Paige, 1991; Kearney & Cronenwett, 1991; Lindberg, 1996; Roe, Whit-
tington, Fein, & Teisl, 1999; Visness & Kennedy, 1997). This includes a
focus on the gender equity implications for both child-rearing practices
and women’s labor market participation and economic outcomes (Galtry,
1997, 2000). There are compelling biomedical and, more controversially,
economic rationales for including breastfeeding as an essential part of any
study on the development, design, and duration of parental leave policies
(American Academy of Pediatrics, 1997; Weimer, 2001). These include
the association found between breastfeeding and enhanced cognitive de-
velopment among infants (e.g., Angelsen, Vik, Jacobsen, & Bakketeig,
2001; Horwood & Ferguson, 1998; Morley, Cole, Powell & Lucas, 1988).
228 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

International recommendations now advise 6 months of exclusive


breastfeeding (i.e., breastmilk without any additional fluid or food), with
continued breastfeeding up to 2 years of age and beyond (World Health
Organization, 2002). The American Academy of Pediatrics (1997) simi-
larly recommends 6 months exclusive breastfeeding with continued
breastfeeding for at least 1 year. Research also indicates that breastfeeding
affords protection against certain illnesses in a dose-responsive manner,
even within developed countries (Scariati, Grummer-Strawn, & Fein,
1997). Analyzing longitudinal data to determine if breastfeeding protects
U.S. infants from developing diarrhea and ear infections, Scariati et al.
(1997) found that the more breastmilk an infant receives in the first 6
months of life, the less likely he or she is to develop either of these condi-
tions. Breastfeeding is nevertheless a time-intensive practice, particularly
when it is exclusive (Auerbach, 1999; UNICEF, 1998).
A number of studies show an association between the duration of time
off work and breastfeeding duration (Bick, MacArthur & Lancashire,
1998; Lindberg, 1996; Roe et al., 1999; Visness & Kennedy, 1997). There
also appears to be an association between the timing of return to work, the
number of hours worked, and the effect on breastfeeding (Fein & Roe,
1998). For instance, in a survey of women who planned to return to work
within 12 months of giving birth, Roe et al. (1999) found that there was
competition between breastfeeding and employment, with the greatest
decrease in breastfeeding duration occurring when employment was re-
sumed in the first 12 weeks after birth. It was observed that each additional
week of leave from work increased breastfeeding duration by almost half
a week. Moreover, women who worked full-time (more than 34 hours a
week) within 3 months of birth were most likely to stop breastfeeding.
Roe et al. also observed an increase in breastfeeding frequency associated
with time out of work, a finding that has implications for exclusive
breastfeeding practice.
In a nationally representative sample of new mothers, Ryan and Marti-
nez (1989) compared the incidence and duration of breastfeeding among
American mothers employed full-time outside the home with those not in
paid employment. They found that whereas the same proportion of
women in both groups (55%) initiated breastfeeding, those returning to
full-time paid work were less likely to be breastfeeding their babies at 6
months. Only 10% of mothers in full-time paid employment breastfed
their babies at 6 months of age compared with 24% of those not in paid
employment. Lindberg (1996) observed that conflicts between breast-
feeding and employment vary according to the intensity of the work with
significantly more mothers employed on a part-time basis likely to breast-
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 229

feed and for longer periods than those in full-time work. Lindberg also
found that women are more likely to stop breastfeeding in the month they
enter employment, suggesting that these behaviors constrain each other.
She concluded that for women to achieve the recommended 6 months of
breastfeeding would require maternity leaves of at least 6 months.
In his 16-country study, Ruhm (2000b) observed that whereas there is a
range of mechanisms by which parental leave may benefit child health,
generous maternity/parental leave policies may mean that women breast-
feed their offspring for longer periods. According to Ruhm, although it is
difficult to establish the exact effect of breastfeeding, based on previous
studies “a reasonable guess is that a substantial parental leave entitlement
might increase breastfeeding sufficiently to prevent 0.5 to 1.0
postneonatal deaths per 1000 live births” (p. 952).
For mothers who wish to resume employment soon after childbirth or
for those in countries without generous and widely accessible periods of
leave, one alternative to taking a long period of leave to breastfeed is to ex-
press breastmilk (either by hand or breastpump) in the workplace. Fre-
quent feeding or expression is critical for ensuring milk production; if a
mother is unable to breastfeed or express/pump milk regularly, her supply
will gradually diminish, often resulting in early termination of breastfeed-
ing (Auerbach, 1999). If she has access to lactation breaks and facilities in
the workplace, the mother may be able to resume employment and express
and/or pump milk with relative ease. This may also represent a gender eq-
uity strategy for many families not only by enabling breastfeeding moth-
ers to return to work earlier but also by introducing the possibility of fa-
thers and other partners taking leave to bond with their infants. It is
noteworthy that there is no established body of research on the effective-
ness of breastmilk expression as a long-term strategy, including for
exclusive breastfeeding.
In general, the sooner a woman returns to work following childbirth,
the more frequently she will need to express milk. This is because it takes
several weeks for a good milk supply to become established. For instance,
a study examining the experiences of American mothers found that
women who return to paid employment after 16 weeks “often may have a
well-established milk supply, and may have successfully negotiated one
or more transient breastfeeding crises, thereby minimizing the potentially
negative effects that employment can have on breastfeeding” (Auerbach
& Guss, 1984, p. 960). 4
From the perspective of breastfeeding then, it would appear that the op-
timal length of postbirth maternity leave is at least 6 months. This, in com-
bination with workplace nursing breaks and facilities for 12 months,
230 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

would greatly facilitate the time-intensive practice of exclusive breast-


feeding, as well as providing minimum enabling conditions for employed
mothers to continue breastfeeding according to best practice recommen-
dations. A 1-year cap on breastfeeding breaks would also go some way to
reassuring employers that the need for breastfeeding support in the work-
place is not an open-ended measure. However, provided that good sup-
ports are in place for breastfeeding/expressing milk in the workplace,
postbirth maternity leave provisions of around 16 weeks, as identified by
Auerbach & Guss’s (1984) study, may be sufficient to support optimal
breastfeeding practice. As yet, there is little evidence of workplace lacta-
tion support being widely available in the United States. Thus, whereas
some individuals, particularly those with strong negotiating power with
their employers, may successfully integrate breastfeeding and paid work
under the current policy scenario, the design of optimal parental leave
policy needs to take into account those workers with little negotiating
power.

PARENTAL LEAVE AND PARENT-CHILD BONDING

For both mothers and fathers, one of the benefits of having a period of
time off work after the birth of a child is the increased potential for infant-
parent bonding. Although the term “bonding” is often used interchange-
ably with “attachment,” bonding generally refers to the newborn period,
whereas attachment refers to a longer period of infancy. In an influential
but subsequently much contested study, Bowlby (1952) studied children
confined to institutions. Bowlby found that in many cases, these infants
displayed inadequate emotional and personality development. He attrib-
uted this, controversially, to “maternal deprivation.” Similarly, Ainsworth
(1967) claimed an association between the security of infant attachment
and aspects of maternal care giving. Based on research in Uganda and
later in Baltimore, Maryland, Ainsworth observed that distinct patterns of
attachment evolve between infants and their mothers in the early years of
life. She suggested that the nature of the maternal-infant relationship re-
lated to the level of responsiveness demonstrated by the mother to her
newborn. According to Ainsworth, those mothers who responded more
quickly to their infants’ cries at 3 months were more likely to have
developed secure maternal-child attachments by 1 year.
In the 1970s, Klaus and Kennell suggested that a “sensitive period” ex-
isted during the first few hours of life. The baby’s emotional development
was seen as heavily reliant on close emotional contact with the mother,
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 231

and the bonding process was often related to the mother’s hormonal pro-
cesses (Klaus & Kennell, 1976). However, studies that linked child devel-
opment and well-being primarily to the immediate postbirth period and/or
to the mother’s presence came to be seen as increasingly controversial by
child development researchers. Among this group were those who wished
to assert the importance of both biological parents to the child’s develop-
ment, as well as those who felt that previous research had often been moti-
vated by, and had resulted in, a form of mother blame. Other researchers
pointed out that whereas the prevailing perception of “good development”
predicated on mother-child inseparability had come to be regarded as a
universal, ahistorical truth, it failed to take into account the specificities of
diverse family types and employment arrangements. For instance, Lamb
(1976) argued that fathers had been neglected, historically, in child devel-
opment and attachment studies. In addition, many feminist writers criti-
cized earlier accounts for the way in which they made many mothers feel
guilty, in particular those who had not had the opportunity to bond or had
not bonded with their offspring in the manner prescribed by the “experts”
(see Hrdy, 1999).
Later research generally emphasized the importance of viewing bond-
ing more as a complex and enduring process “influenced by the parents’
perceptions of their infant, the reward value of the interactions, and even
social and economic situations that may or may not complicate the par-
ents’ lives” (Harris, 1993, p. 294). This was accompanied by the growing
realization that parent-child attachments do not always occur immediately
at birth but are more likely to be part of a gradually evolving and enduring
process that is mutually influenced through “a process of familiarization
and reciprocal interactions” (Harris, 1993, p. 293).
Despite a greater focus on bonding than on issues of child health more
generally in the parental leave research literature (McGovern et al., 1992),
research on child development offers little guidance regarding the exact
time required to make such a bond. However, in contrast to many other
fields, such as those concerning health and labor markets, where delibera-
tions about the effects on women and children of different policies and
practices are more confined within specific disciplinary boundaries, dis-
cussions about bonding have become part of popular discourse in recent
years. Concerns surrounding appropriate bonding times are thus the sub-
ject of much public and often highly charged debate. Moreover, bonding
is a far more difficult phenomenon to test empirically than, for instance,
the effects of lost wages related to time out of work or infant mortality
rates.
232 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

PARENTAL LEAVE AND CHILDREN’S


COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

It is more difficult to assess the psychological benefits than the poten-


tial physiological benefits to children of parents taking leave. There is a
large amount of controversial and generally inconclusive historical litera-
ture on the effects of mothers’ employment on child development, includ-
ing on cognitive development (see Hoffman, Youngblade, Coley, Fuligni,
& Kovacs, 1999). Not surprisingly, debate continues about family-work
factors that potentially influence the cognitive development of young chil-
dren (e.g., Ruhm, 2000a; Han, Waldfogel, & Brooks-Gunn, 2001). This
includes discussion of the effects of the mother’s and, to a lesser extent,
the father’s employment in the early years of a child’s life. Ruhm (2000a),
as well as Han et al. (2001), found that maternal employment early in the
child’s life adversely affects his or her cognitive development. Using U.S.
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, Ruhm (2000a) noted that
maternal labor market involvement during the first 3 years of the child’s
life “is predicted to have a small negative effect on the verbal ability of 3
and 4 year olds and a substantial detrimental impact on the reading and
math achievement of 5 and 6 year olds” (p. 1). The mother’s employment
during the 2nd and 3rd years of the child’s life also appears to “have less
favorable or more deleterious consequences when the mother is also em-
ployed in the first year.” Ruhm further observed that “paternal and mater-
nal employment have qualitatively similar effects, hinting at the impor-
tance of time investments by fathers” (Ibid). Han et al. suggest, however,
that the father’s full-time presence in the home, if due to unemployment,
negatively affects the infant’s cognitive development. Note that unem-
ployment, an often involuntary situation, needs to be distinguished from a
period of job-protected leave, where the father is generally making an
active decision to be at home with the child.

PARENTAL LEAVE, GENDER


EQUITY, AND CHILD WELL-BEING:
THE UNITED STATES AND NORDIC MODELS

As shown, taking a long period of maternity/parental leave is poten-


tially detrimental to new parents in terms of their employment and eco-
nomic outcomes. This is especially relevant to women, given that in all
countries, they take the majority of leave following childbirth (Interna-
tional Labour Organization, 1997). The labor market literature suggests
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 233

that a relatively short period of paid leave with a guarantee of job reinstate-
ment is preferable in terms of women’s economic and employment inter-
ests. Aside from lack of payment, the United States model of a short leave
period appears to fit this model.
Whereas leave policies vary among different states, at the federal level
only 3 months of unpaid leave is available under the 1993 FMLA. More-
over, due to strict eligibility criteria, many parents are not covered by the
FMLA (Callister, 2002). As of the end of 2002, the United States was,
along with Australia, one of only two industrialized countries without
paid leave.
Despite its apparent fit with research supporting a short period of leave
for women’s economic well-being, 12 weeks does not appear to be suffi-
cient either to protect children’s health or, in many cases, to promote opti-
mal maternal well-being following childbirth. Although welfare provi-
sion is not the specific subject of this article, sociocultural ideologies
about appropriate leave periods and parental time input for newborns and
infants are also likely to have implications for welfare measures. For in-
stance, in 1996, 3 years after the FMLA’s enactment, the United States
Congress enacted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities
Reconciliation Act. This legislation requires that low-income mothers
seek and accept employment from the time their babies are 3 months of
age, with only 12 states, as of 2000, exempting them from any work obli-
gation until the infant’s first birthday (Kamerman, 2000). This period
matches the 12-week leave period provided under the FMLA, although in
contrast to these welfare provisions, family and medical leave under the
act is unpaid.
Although the FMLA includes leave provision to care for dependents
other than children (such as the elderly)—which renders it unique and ar-
guably progressive in international terms (Hattiangadi, 2000)—it is pre-
mised on a narrow medical/disability model. This has important implica-
tions for the way in which children’s well-being is addressed. The fact that
family leave is broader in its scope than most comparable countries’paren-
tal leave schema, including an intergenerational component (Wisensale,
2001)5, means that separating out specific provisions for re-assessment
and possible redesign becomes potentially more difficult. This includes
determining the appropriate length of leave to cover the childbearing and
early child-rearing period. This broad-based and uniquely American ap-
proach, although at face value more inclusive and potentially less discrim-
inatory than some other countries’ leave schemes (particularly those
which provide only general-specific maternity leave), also reflects and re-
inforces a lack of prioritization of children’s well-being in United States’
234 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

family-work policy development (e.g., Kamerman & Kahn, 1991; Skocpol,


2000).
The differences, for example, between parental leave schema in the
Nordic countries and the United States are not only material (i.e., the
FMLA’s provisions are brief, unpaid, and subject to restrictive eligibility
criteria, whereas the former are universal, longer, and paid), they are also
grounded in significant ideological differences. Most important, perhaps,
the child is firmly at the center of the Scandinavian welfare state and its
policy development (Esping-Andersen, 1996). Accordingly, children’s
well-being is viewed as a public responsibility in which society is pre-
pared to invest. Generous parental leave provisions in terms of accessibil-
ity, length, and payment, such as those exhibited in Norway, Sweden, and
to a lesser extent, Denmark, are seen as fundamental to this “social invest-
ment” objective. For instance, in Sweden, whereas an extended period of
job-protected paid parental leave was introduced in 1974, provision for
job-protected maternity leave was introduced as early as the 1930s, fol-
lowed by paid maternity leave in the 1950s (Haas, 1992; Moen, 1989;
OECD, 1995; Sundström, 1991).
Currently, under Sweden’s parental insurance scheme, which insures
for income loss resulting from the care of infants, parents are entitled to
paid parental leave for 480 days (as of January 2002).6 Three hundred
ninety days are paid at 80% of previous earnings, and the remaining
months are paid at a standard, flat rate. Two months are reserved for each
parent—the “pappa” month and the “mamma” month—and cannot be
transferred.
Sweden is an example of a country that has invested heavily in public
support of programs designed to improve children’s well-being, and
clearly, parental leave policies are only one part of this investment strat-
egy. Other features of the Swedish system include comprehensive health
programs and high-quality, widely accessible early childhood education
and care provisions. Overall, this social investment approach appears to
have paid off. As evidence of this, Sweden has exemplary infant health
statistics, including the lowest infant mortality rate among OECD coun-
tries (OECD, 1999).7 While cautioning that no simple correlation can be
made between the two, Ruhm (1998b) noted that Sweden, which had the
most generous parental leave policies of the nine Western European coun-
tries studied in this analysis8—Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ire-
land, Italy, Norway, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Sweden—had
the fewest infant deaths—4.3 per 1,000 live births. Regarding the associa-
tion observed by Ruhm between children’s well-being and parental time
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 235

available to invest in them, including through breastfeeding, it is also note-


worthy that Sweden has high breastfeeding rates (including exclusive
breastfeeding rates at 6 months) relative to most other industrialized coun-
tries (see Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, 2000).9 In con-
trast, the United States has a relatively low breastfeeding rate, with its
rates at 6 months identified as a particular cause for concern, especially
among African American women (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 2000).10 Whereas breastfeeding practice is heavily influenced
by wider sociocultural factors (Dettwyler, 1995; Greiner, 1990), it is nev-
ertheless likely that these best practice recommendations for 6 months of
exclusive breastfeeding, as well as the desire in many cases to continue
breastfeeding, pose contradictory pressures for many new mothers in the
United States (Galtry, 1997, 2001).
In contrast, then, to the United States model, Swedish parental leave
provisions have been developed with both children’s welfare and gender
equity goals in mind (Haas & Hwang, 1999). For instance, the 1995
Swedish governmental report on equality, Shared Power and Responsibil-
ity, notes that Sweden’s parental insurance scheme is predicated not only
on the objective of gender equality in both the labor market and home but
also on the acceptance that both parents have rights and obligations in re-
lation to their children (Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs,
1995).11 Sweden thus provides a substantial period of paid, gender-neutral
parental leave through its social insurance scheme. This statutory entitle-
ment offers mothers the opportunity to breastfeed their infants exclusively
in the early months after birth, with nearly all mothers doing so, while still
retaining their attachment to the labor market (Galtry, 2001). However,
Swedish leave policy has an inbuilt equity component that also offers the
option of other work-family integrating configurations. More specifically,
in two-parent families both parents have the opportunity to spend time, al-
though not concurrently, with their infants. Moreover, policies have also
been instituted to hasten gender equity by encouraging fathers to take a
period of leave through the introduction and implementation in 1995 of a
nontransferable paid “pappa month” (Haas & Hwang, 1999; Sundström
& Duvander, 1999), with an additional pappa month introduced in early
2002.12
But how do the Nordic countries, Sweden in particular, fare in terms of
actual progress toward gender equity, particularly with regard to women
and men’s employment and respective use of parental leave? Signifi-
cantly, even in these countries it is still primarily mothers who take the ma-
jority of parental leave (Moen & Forest, 1999). Nearly all Swedish moth-
236 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

ers access paid parental leave, taking on average 11 months of parental


leave (Haas & Hwang, 1999).13 Rønsen and Sundström (1996) report that
at 6 months after the birth, about one tenth of Swedish mothers had re-
sumed employment; at 1 year, approximately 50% were back at work, and
at 18 months after the birth, about 60% were back on the job. By the time
the child was 3 years old, just over 80% of Swedish mothers had resumed
active employment.
Despite the fact that women take the majority of leave, Sweden has the
highest proportion of men taking parental leave among industrialized
countries. The nontransferable pappa month has affected the parental al-
lowance days used by men. For instance, for those children born in 1993
or 1994, prior to the pappa month’s introduction, half the fathers did not
use the allowance (Swedish National Social Insurance Board, 2001). By
contrast, in 1995, only 23% of fathers took no parental leave up until the
time a child was 4 years of age. Of those who took leave, 35% took be-
tween 1 and 29 days, 41% took between 30 and 59 days, and 19% took be-
tween 60 and 179 days. Yet, despite recent progress, Haas and Hwang
(1999) note that the pappa month has not had the anticipated effect on fa-
thers’ uptake of leave, with Sweden still having a long way to go if it is to
achieve equal parental leave uptake by men and women.
An optimal leave arrangement might, in fact, involve the mother ’s tak-
ing the first 6 months of parental leave to recover from childbirth and to
breastfeed, with the father then taking a further 6 months of leave to maxi-
mize shared time input into the child. This would also avoid the entrench-
ment of traditional roles in employment and home life that often proves
both costly to women and difficult to change at a later date (Bergmann,
1986).14 Whereas this suggested pattern can be observed in some Swedish
families, research continues in Nordic countries to try to identify ways of
supporting equal use of parental leave by men and women across the
wider society (Carlsen, 1998).
Although it is sometimes assumed that an emphasis on father care has
little relevance to the United States policy scenario, a recent American
study highlights the lack of fit between mothers’ preferred methods of
care and the types and quality of care available. Based on a study of preg-
nant women who returned to paid employment within the 1st year
postpartum and used nonmaternal child care, Riley and Glass (2002)
found that the majority of the mothers (53%) surveyed preferred father
care. Whereas for a variety of reasons only 23% primarily used father
care, this preferred arrangement would appear to fit the Swedish model,
with an emphasis on longer periods of leave and paternal involvement.
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 237

CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

So what is the optimal length of parental leave? The research literature


from a range of disciplines and perspectives gives us different answers. It
seems that a relatively short period of leave following childbirth is less
costly to most employees in terms of its long-term economic and employ-
ment effects. Certainly, when leave is unpaid, a short leave period is not as
detrimental for parents. However, the adverse economic consequences of
longer leave appear to be less observable in countries such as Sweden,
where such behavior is more predictable. Overall, in the context of the
United States it seems that a short parental leave period, such as the 3
months covered by the FMLA, is likely to have minimal impact on
employees’ long-term earnings.
With regard to fetal and maternal health, leave policies must include
measures that offer pregnant workers the opportunity to take a period of
their leave entitlement prior to childbirth. In the prenatal period, it is diffi-
cult to establish a universally appropriate length of leave, as this is largely
determined by both the nature of the pregnancy and the type of job and
working conditions. Following childbirth, women’s physical and mental
health is often enhanced by a period of leave. Some research supports
postnatal leave periods longer than 20 weeks to optimize women’s mental
and physical health. However, if they are able to access the full 12 weeks
following childbirth, the time period provided by the FMLA may be suffi-
cient for many workers covered by this legislation. Yet, for those women
who experience complications either during their pregnancy or following
childbirth, 12 weeks will often be inadequate. The longer period of paid
and universally available leave characterizing Swedish public policy al-
lows women to determine better the most appropriate leave duration based
on their personal circumstances.
Although the issue of bonding is often a key component of discussions
about the design of parental leave policy, the literature on this subject pro-
vides little guidance as to the optimal length of time required. However, in
contrast to the historical emphasis on maternal-infant bonding, there is
now increasing recognition of the benefits to both parents associated with
the opportunity to bond with their infants. With regard to heterosexual
couples, this means that parental leave schemes need to be designed, as
has increasingly occurred in recent years, to allow both mothers and fa-
thers to spend time with their offspring. In their different ways, both the
United States and Swedish parental leave schemes allow for this. But the
Swedish model goes much farther by providing financial incentives to en-
238 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

courage fathers to take longer leaves. However, this goal appears to be ex-
plicitly driven more by the wider societal ideal of gender equity than by
theories of bonding.
The literature on breastfeeding provides more direct guidance for the
design of parental leave schemes. Current breastfeeding recommenda-
tions and research appear to support the provision of 6 months paid
postnatal leave so that mothers can exclusively breastfeed their infants
during this period. Longer duration of breastfeeding has also been shown
to be protective against breast cancer in women. However, if an initial 6-
month period of leave following childbirth is warranted primarily on ma-
ternal and child health and, to a lesser extent, on cognitive development
grounds, leave then comes to be seen as unavoidably female specific, that
is, pertaining primarily to women. Herein lies the gender equity conun-
drum. In heterosexual, two-parent families, if equality both in the home
and the workplace is to be achieved, parental leave needs to be shared
equally by both parents, thereby avoiding the entrenchment of traditional
roles and responsibilities. This then necessitates longer periods of leave so
that parents can take leave consecutively. Paid leave lasting longer than six
months would ensure that fathers have the opportunity to spend time with
their child, as well as balancing the breastfeeding mother’s potential time
input during the early months.
One way of achieving this scenario would be to emulate some aspects
of the Swedish public policy model. Although much progress is required
if full gender equality is to be attained, Sweden has nevertheless managed
to design and develop a parental leave policy package that recognizes and
addresses the dual and often conflicting objectives of child health and
gender equity. Although the United States is characterized by a very dif-
ferent institutional and public policy climate, measures that would enable
both health-promoting behavior and equitable leave-taking practices be-
tween women and men need to be developed. The need to ensure equity
and redistribution, as well as to enhance children’s life chances and oppor-
tunities regardless of their family context, provides one of the strongest ar-
guments for government intervention and redesign of appropriate
parental leave policy, including in terms of its duration.
However, whereas research suggests that a period of leave supports
breastfeeding duration, for a variety of reasons many new mothers either
need to or wish to return to work before 6 months. In the United States,
where leave is unpaid, many individuals are not covered by the FMLA,
and the cost of being out of employment is also seemingly higher than in
some other countries, the pressure for an early return to work is likely to be
more intense. In countries such as the United States, workplace measures
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 239

are, therefore, required to enable employees returning to work immedi-


ately following childbirth to integrate their work and family commitments
better. These include measures for “phasing back” through part-time
work, shorter working days and/or flextime, as well as provisions for
breastfeeding breaks and facilities. Such measures are also required to en-
able employees returning to work after a period of leave to continue
breastfeeding.
Within two-parent, heterosexual households, the model whereby moth-
ers return to work before 6 months while continuing to express breast milk
and fathers take an equivalent, subsequent period of leave appears to offer
an alternative model to the traditional gender division of leave uptake. At
face value, this scenario also seems ideal in terms of reconciling important
health and gender equity concerns. However, insufficient research is
available to unconditionally recommend this model. As yet, there is little
evidence that provisions supportive of breastfeeding/breast milk expres-
sion are widespread in the United States workplace. Moreover, further re-
search is required on the effectiveness of breast milk expression, includ-
ing through the use of a breast pump, as a strategy for maintaining
exclusive breastfeeding, particularly in the United States where this
model appears to be far more prevalent than in Europe.
In parental leave discussions, political and ideological considerations
will always be important, with political trade-offs playing a critical role in
the adoption of the FMLA. However, the design of parental leave schemes
should, ideally, be informed by research. If these schemes are to be guided
only by research on labor markets and gender equity, then short leaves
seem the best policy option. But once biomedical research is considered,
the design of parental leave becomes far more complex. This body of re-
search points to the need for much longer leaves than are currently avail-
able in the United States. Ideally, postnatal leave should be for at least 6
months. Given the need of many pregnant workers for a period of prenatal
leave, the overriding leave period may need to be even longer than this.
This 6-month period is a minimum that does not cover the goal of gender
equity in labor markets and households. But such leave would also require
far wider eligibility criteria than is currently the case, as well as income
support, especially for those who cannot afford to take time out of work
without some form of income replacement. In addition, there needs to be
legislation for breastfeeding breaks and facilities in the workplace, as stip-
ulated in international law. Historically, American discussions of parental
leave have not foregrounded medical research. The research literature
suggests that in the future they should.
240 JOURNAL OF FAMILY ISSUES / March 2005

NOTES

1. These traditional roles may also be difficult to change at a later time. Furthermore, if
parents separate, the primary caregiver will generally become the custodial parent.
2. In 1995, 84% of Swedish mothers took 300 or more days of leave (Swedish National
Social Insurance Board, 2001).
3. The World Health Organization notes that a country’s caesarean section rates should
be no higher than 10%-15% (Gerrard, 2001).
4. Forty percent of those women who returned to paid employment before 16 weeks
nevertheless continued to breastfeed beyond the infant’s first birthday (Auerbach & Guss,
1984).
5. Researchers and advocates for family and medical leave are divided on the value of
initiatives proposing to limit paid leave to parental care alone. For instance, Wisensale (2001)
argues that the FMLA was originally designed to provide intergenerational family care to en-
able eligible individuals to take time off from work to care for a child or an elderly parent. Ac-
cording to Wisensale, it is important to maintain this broad approach, given the impending re-
ality of a large retirement population.
6. Separate provisions are also included for maternity leave (14 weeks) and paternity
leave (10 days).
7. According to 1999 figures, after Poland, the United States had the highest infant mor-
tality rates among OECD countries (OECD, 1999).
8. This analysis was later expanded to include 16 countries (Ruhm, 2000b).
9. Sweden is one of the leading countries among the developed nations with respect to
breastfeeding practice. It not only has a high breastfeeding initiation rate—in 1997, at one
week of age, 97% of infants were breastfed (93% exclusively, 4% partially)—but it is also no-
table for its breastfeeding frequency rates, especially for infants at six months of age. In this
age group, fully 73% of all children born in 1998 were breastfed (41% exclusively breastfed
and 32% partially breastfed) (Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, 2000).
10. In 1998, 64% of American infants were breastfed (that is, received any amount of
breast milk at all) in “the early postpartum period,” whereas at 6 months, only 29% of babies
were breastfed (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000).
11. Sweden has for a long time promoted the notion of children’s rights and was, along
with the other Nordic countries, a major force behind the development of the United Nations’
1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and in 1990 was one of the earliest countries to
ratify it.
12. Another component of the Nordic family-work package, which is not directly the
subject of this article but is nevertheless critical in facilitating the labor market attachment of
leave-taking employees, is their extensive, high-quality, state-subsidized child care pro-
grams. In Sweden, for instance, child care provisions conjoin with the parental leave entitle-
ment through the provision of paid parental leave for 15 months, followed by high-quality,
subsidized day care. This particular policy configuration serves through economic incentives
to shape and uphold the at-home ideal for the very young (followed by an out-of-home period
in day care), which, to varying degrees, is at the heart of Nordic family-work policy. This pol-
icy package also has important fiscal implications—a factor that has sometimes been over-
looked in international analyses supportive of the Swedish model (Galtry, 2001).
13. There are, however, variations in the timing of return to paid work among Swedish
women. Stafford and Sundström (1994) suggest that there is a tendency for better paid and
Galtry, Callister / ASSESSING PARENTAL LEAVE 241

more highly educated mothers to resume employment more rapidly after childbirth than
those with lower education levels and lower rates of pay.
14. U.S. economist Barbara Bergmann argues that paid maternity leaves not only rein-
force the notion that child rearing and other household chores are primarily the responsibility
of women but also are “really another version of pay for housewives” (1986, p. 213).

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