Exploring Pathways towards Gender Justice during the Uptake of Parental Leave. Empirical Evidence from Austria

Against the background of Austria being a conservative welfare state and facing challenges in establishing institutional infant care, I want to discuss obstacles in going beyond gendered role stereotypes and establishing long-term shared parenting arrangements. Especially building up emotional bonds during a child’s infancy and bearing mental load still are highly gendered topics. The gained Austrian empirical results show that the provision of well-paid, shorter childcare benefits on one hand promotes men’s uptake of parental leave and their gain in caring abilities. However, on the other hand, obstacles in overcoming gender inequalities in both parents’ reconciliation of employment, childcare, and family management are still to be observed: last but not least due to employers’ gendered expectations and due to a lack in the provision of (public) childcare and education. In my paper, I will focus on the mental lead during a child’s infancy and both parents' attempt to dually share the reconciliation of family management, infant care, and employment. The empirical Austrian results indicate a (re-)production of traditional gender roles in the transition to parenthood, which still counteract the realization of gender justice despite the provision of parental leave rights for both parents. Moreover, men’s shares in the uptake of parental leave are low, about 4% in all forms of childcare benefits (and parental leave variants). Nevertheless, the results also show men’s pathways in developing caring attitudes and being an involved parent are the first steps towards realizing gender justice in the transition to parenthood.