Explaining New Patterns in Family Leave Policies in Latin America: Competing Visions and Facilitating Institutions

Abstract

Recent years have seen the rapid passage and modification of family leave policies in Latin America, a surprising trend, given the region's historically conservative gender norms. This article argues that the rise of new paternity leave policies - as well as the modifications to longer-standing maternity leave policies - reflects contending visions of gender and the family, mediated by the institutions and actors that populate the region's political landscape. Using an original dataset of family policy measures, this article finds that the factors facilitating the adoption of new, vanguard policies, such as paternity leave, function in ways different from those that shape the expansion of longer-standing policies, including maternity leave.