Parental leave by fathers. Meanings, negotiations and valuations of family work and gainful employment among couples

Abstract

At present, in Germany more than one third of fathers take parental leave. The paper analyzes interpretations of paternity leave based on narrative interviews with couples where the father takes or has taken parental leave. In order to reconstruct the – consensual or dissenting – views on parental leave, family work and occupational labor, the article focuses on the couples’ explanations and negotiations of parental leave from a social constructivist / sociology of knowledge perspective. The following frames can be identified: stressing economic rationality; time aspects; allowing individual or joint time for the couple, family or social relationships; allowing for professional re-orientation; paternal leave as legitimately exercised legal claim; brief paternal leave as adjustment to the perceived requirements of the enterprise; and parental leave as an attempt at visibilizing care work. Moreover, it becomes clear that, despite an increase in the number of fathers taking parental leave, manifold gendered inequalities remain in the couples’ arrangements.