Karen Haandrikman, Ann-Zofie Duvander, Natasha A. Webster
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引用次数: 1
Abstract
A central and unique part of Sweden’s family policy programme is care leave that working parents can use when children are sick and cannot attend (pre)school. The gender-equal policy entails that parents may divide the leave as they see fit. However, mothers and fathers do not share care leave equally and care leave patterns may vary geographically. The aim of this paper is to examine the interaction between gendered care leave and geographical context using the theory of gender contracts. We ask how geographical variation in fathers’ share of care leave varies by scale, and how both individual factors and geographical determinants, representing local gender contracts, are associated with fathers’ share of care leave. Distinctive from previous work, we use geocoded full-population register data and individualized neighbourhoods at multiple scales in order to be able to better measure contextual effects on care leave use. We find substantial spatial variation in fathers’ share of care leave, with clustering depending on scale level. Using the nearest 200 fathers with young children, a factor analysis summarizes local gender contracts into three factors labelled as elite, marginalization and private sector. Results show that especially living in local gender contract areas identified as “marginalized” positively affects fathers’ share of care leave. Living in the most segregated neighbourhoods has substantial effects on fathers’ share of care leave, but overall, neighbourhood effects are moderate. A gender contract perspective shows negotiations resulting from locally clustered gendered norms and relative resources between partners influence who stays home with sick children.
期刊介绍:
Spatial Demography focuses on understanding the spatial and spatiotemporal dimension of demographic processes. More specifically, the journal is interested in submissions that include the innovative use and adoption of spatial concepts, geospatial data, spatial technologies, and spatial analytic methods that further our understanding of demographic and policy-related related questions. The journal publishes both substantive and methodological papers from across the discipline of demography and its related fields (including economics, geography, sociology, anthropology, environmental science) and in applications ranging from local to global scale. In addition to research articles the journal will consider for publication review essays, book reviews, and reports/reviews on data, software, and instructional resources.