Father parental leave use in Spain: the role of the female partner labour situation

Abstract

This article presents novel empirical evidence of fathers’ parental leave usage by introducing a family dimension in Spain. To test this hypothesis, a bivariate probit estimation was used to analyse the effect of the mother’s labour force participation on the father’s decision to take parental leave. This procedure allowed us to address the issue of simultaneous factors affecting the decisions of both the man and the woman, which were relevant to interpreting for the phenomenon. The results suggested that successfully using fathers’ paternity leave as a tool to promote gender equality depends on the family household’s characteristics and the woman’s connection to the job market. The bivariate probit estimation revealed that the effect of the woman’s decision on the man’s choice is much stronger than a naive regression would suggest.