Fathers’ leave use is promoted in many countries, but so far with different success. Major explanations of different usage revolve around economic bargaining between parents and economic constraints in the household. By using extensive register data from 1999–2009 in Finland and Sweden, this study asks whether fathers’ use of parental leave in the two countries is determined by the same socioeconomic characteristics on the individual and the household level once we control for sociodemographic factors. Striking similarities in what influences fathers’ use of leave in the two contexts are found, even though leave is used at very different levels and the policy design differs remarkably. Generally, fathers with a similar income level to the mother use leave the most, but in high-income households the mother’s higher income leads to the highest propensity of fathers’ leave take-up. The results indicate that equal bargaining positions are associated with fathers’ leave use but also that mothers’ stronger position often facilitates fathers’ leave. We conclude that the role of gendered bargaining positions should be studied in interaction with the level of resources in the household.

中文翻译：

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类似的育儿谈判？芬兰和瑞典父亲使用育儿假的比较研究

许多国家都提倡使用父亲休假，但迄今为止取得了不同的成功。对不同用法的主要解释围绕着父母之间的经济谈判和家庭中的经济约束。通过使用芬兰和瑞典 1999 年至 2009 年的大量登记数据，本研究询问一旦我们控制了社会人口因素，这两个国家的父亲是否使用育儿假是由个人和家庭层面的相同社会经济特征决定的。尽管休假在非常不同的层面上使用并且政策设计也有显着差异，但我们发现在两种情况下影响父亲休假的因素有惊人的相似之处。一般来说，收入水平与母亲相近的父亲休假最多，但在高收入家庭中，母亲较高的收入导致父亲休假的倾向最高。结果表明，平等的谈判地位与父亲休假有关，但母亲的强势地位往往有助于父亲休假。我们得出的结论是，应结合家庭资源水平来研究性别谈判地位的作用。