CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Hasanova, Maryam |
|---|---|
| Title | The Impact of Parental Leave Policies on Female Labor Force Participation and the Gender Wage Gap |
| Summary | Parental leave policies have historically been crafted with a woman-focused approach, aiming to promote women's labor market attachment. However, evidence indicates that longer maternity leave can have unintended consequences, such as decreasing female labor force participation and increasing gender pay gap. Consequently, there has been growing interest in the potential of father-specific leave to improve gender equality within labor markets. This study explores how father-specific parental and paternity leave policies affect two central measures of labor market gender equality: female labor force participation (FLFP) and the gender wage gap (GWG). Using a panel dataset of 38 OECD countries from 2000 to 2023 and fixed-effects regression models, the analysis finds that the overall length of leave available to fathers is positively associated with FLFP and negatively associated with the GWG. These findings remain significant even after controlling for fertility, education, unemployment, GDP, and maternity leave entitlements. However, paid leave reserved specifically for fathers is not consistently significant, suggesting possible design flaws or limited uptake. Overall, the findings partially support the potential of father-inclusive leave policies to improve labor market equality when effectively designed and implemented. |
| Supervisor | Matthijs Bogaards |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/hasanova_maryam.pdf |
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