More than employment policies? Parental leaves, flexible work and fathers’ participation in unpaid care work

ABSTRACT This article explores two policy pathways – parental leave and flexible work –as complementary policy interventions aimed at promoting gender equality in unpaid care and household work. Drawing on Canadian data from the 2021 International Familydemic Survey, we examine the relationship between fathers’ previous use of parental leave, and current use of flexible work arrangements (flextime and remote work), and their involvement in unpaid care work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings support the following three arguments: First, in numerous countries, including Canada, where socially exclusive policy designs can limit fathers’ take up of parental leave, flexible work arrangements can provide additional opportunities to increase fathering involvement beyond the early months of parenting. Second, our data indicate that unpaid care work sharing is enhanced by fathers’ parental leaves and flexible working; however, fathers who have taken parental leave report dividing a wider set of household work and care tasks with their partners. Third, although their policy designs, aims, and legislation architectures differ in Canada, we maintain that parental leaves and flexible work arrangements are both more than employment policies; they are care/work policies that enact ‘social care’ and ‘democratic care’, and support gender equality and work-family justice goals.