abstract: 'Despite being the first country in the world to introduce paternity

  leave in 1978, Finland''s current national leave scheme is complex with

  regard to incentivizing fathers'' take-up. Taking the unique Finnish

  leave scheme as a case example, this article examines fathers''

  motivations and barriers to leave. Although research on fathers'' take-up

  of leave in divergent leave policy contexts has increased dramatically,

  fathers'' motivations and barriers to leave have remained

  underresearched. The article reports on a survey sample of 852 Finnish

  fathers of infants who were taking paternity, parental, and other forms

  of leave, drawn from the Population Register Center. Results show that

  less than 20\% of fathers report taking no leave, with more than 80\%

  taking some form of leave. A multinomial logistic regression analysis

  indicates that father''s work, partner''s education, and family income,

  along with father''s wish to take a break from work and wish to

  facilitate mother''s return to work or studies, are the key

  characteristics and motivations associated with fathers'' take-up of

  leave. The most common barriers to fathers'' take-up of leave were

  related to the family''s economic situation and the father''s job. It is

  suggested that decreasing maternalism in the leave scheme, by extending

  investment in fathers'' individual well-paid leave weeks, will also help

  promote greater gender equality for working parents in Finland following

  the path of Nordic neighbors.'
affiliation: 'Eerola, P (Corresponding Author), Tampere Univ, Kalevantie 5, Tampere
  33014, Finland.

  Eerola, Petteri, Tampere Univ, Fac Social Sci, Tampere, Finland.

  Eerola, Petteri, UCL, London, England.

  O''Brien, Margaret, UCL, Child \& Family Policy, London, England.

  Eerola, Petteri; O''Brien, Margaret, UCL, Thomas Comm Res Unit, London, England.

  Lammi-Taskula, Johanna; Hietamaki, Johanna, Natl Inst Hlth \& Welf, Helsinki, Finland.

  Raikkonen, Eija, Univ Jyvaskyla, Fac Educ \& Psychol, Jyvaskyla, Finland.'
article-number: '2158244019885389'
author: Eerola, Petteri and Lammi-Taskula, Johanna and O'Brien, Margaret and Hietamaki,
  Johanna and Raikkonen, Eija
author-email: petteri.eerola@tuni.fi
author_list:
- family: Eerola
  given: Petteri
- family: Lammi-Taskula
  given: Johanna
- family: O'Brien
  given: Margaret
- family: Hietamaki
  given: Johanna
- family: Raikkonen
  given: Eija
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/2158244019885389
files: []
issn: 2158-2440
journal: SAGE OPEN
keywords: fatherhood; paternity leave; parental leave; Finland
keywords-plus: 'PAID PARENTAL LEAVE; GENDER EQUALITY; CARING FATHERS; INVOLVEMENT;

  COUNTRIES; DIVISION; POLICIES; RIGHTS; CARE'
language: English
month: OCT
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '64'
orcid-numbers: 'Hietamaki, Johanna/0000-0002-0387-223X

  Lammi-Taskula, Johanna/0000-0003-1571-2505

  Eerola, Petteri/0000-0002-9563-5871'
papis_id: b390e36feae1e07fff8a30706b3232b5
ref: Eerola2019fathersleave
researcherid-numbers: 'Hietamäki, Johanna/ACG-9155-2022

  Lammi-Taskula, Johanna/AAJ-8900-2020

  '
times-cited: '21'
title: 'Fathers'' Leave Take-Up in Finland: Motivations and Barriers in a Complex
  Nordic Leave Scheme'
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000493526500001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '8'
volume: '9'
web-of-science-categories: Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
year: '2019'