‘Mommy, why daddy is not at home?’ : the case of parental leave in Sweden and Canada

Abstract

This thesis is devoted to the analysis of the gender (un)equal uptake of parental leave and the current situations of fathering in Sweden and Canada. The main task of this work is to present the understanding of why fathers do not engage in care-taking as much as mothers do. The theoretical part of this work focuses on feminist theories that explain the lack of engagement of fathers and further factors that explain the unequal uptake of parental leave. Whereas the practical part analyses the uptake of parental leave by fathers in Sweden and Canada. In the last chapter, the theoretical understanding discussed in the first part of this thesis are applied to the case studies. The results of this work show that there is a need to tear down the socially constructed gender attributes via right policies accompanied by right programmes, regional and international cooperation and enhance the “family-friendliness” of all organizations in order to increase the equality in care-taking.