Parental leave in the system of socio-economic processes: a theoretical review

Parental leave is one of the most important components in the structure of family policy in most developed countries. In foreign practice, three types of leaves are available: maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave. The researchers note that development of the leave policy has a favorable economic, social and demographic effect. For this reason, the issue of leaves is becoming more and more popular every year and attracts attention of a wide range of scientists. Nevertheless, in the domestic scientific literature, the phenomenon of parental leave remains practically unexplored. This article is devoted to the study of the impact of parental leave on other socioeconomic processes — employment, gender equality and fertility — and related areas of government policy. Exploring this relationship, the author notes positive impact of paternity leave and paternity quotas on the distribution of responsibilities between men and women in the professional and family spheres of life. The positive economic effects from the use of parental leave as one of the tools to protect workers in the labor market are described. These effects consist mainly in increasing the employment rate of women and reducing the wage gap between men and women. In addition, the impact of parental leave on the birth rate is considered—on the one hand, the use of paternity leave stimulates parents for subsequent childbearing, on the other hand, opportunity costs increase, which negatively affect the reproductive attitudes of mothers. The author draws a conclusion about the relationship between parental leave policy and other areas of state policy — employment policy, gender equality policy and demographic policy. In the author's opinion, the discovered relationship indicates the importance of the issue of parental leave and the need to study it in Russia.