Research

Working Parents (Quick Take)

Oct 22, 2020

For information on the impact of Covid-19 on working parents, see Quick Take: Covid-19’s Detrimental Effect on Gender Equality.

GLOBAL

Women Take on Significantly More Unpaid Work That Men Do1

Across the world, women perform more than three-quarters (76.2%) of unpaid care work—including looking after children, spouses, partners, or other family members.2

  • Women spend, on average, four hours and 25 minutes per day on unpaid work, compared with only one hour and 23 minutes for men.3
  • In some countries, women spend significantly more time than their men counterparts completing unpaid work. In fact, there are zero countries where men complete an equal (or greater) amount of unpaid work compared to women. 4
    • Even in countries like Norway and the United States where this gap is smaller, women are still performing nearly twice the amount of unpaid labor as men. 5

Between 1997 and 2012, the unpaid care gap between men and women across 23 countries decreased only by seven minutes per day, meaning that at this pace, the gap will not be closed until 2228.6

Increased Paternity Leave Could Lead to More Equity at Home

One German study showed that men who took over two months of parental leave, or took leave non-concurrently with their partner, increased their involvement in both childcare and housework.7

  • Fathers who take parental leave are more likely to participate in feeding and bathing their children or other similar tasks,8 which may in turn lead to a stronger bond with their children.9
On Average, More Men Are Using Parental Leave Than They Did Before 10

Paid leave for fathers is not as widespread as maternity leave but is increasing.

  • Thirty-two out of the world’s 41 richest countries reserve paid leave for fathers (either paternity leave or parental leave).11
  • OECD countries offer, on average, a little over eight weeks of paid father-specific (or secondary parent) leave. However, there is wide variation among those countries, with 21 countries offering just two weeks or fewer.12

Paid leave for fathers is not only usually much shorter than maternity leave, but it is often paid at a higher rate.13

Harmful Cultural Expectations and Stigmas Persist

A global survey by McKinsey found that nearly half of all respondents feel that children suffer when mothers participate in the labor force.14

ASIA-PACIFIC

In Australia, most parents are in the workforce.

  • 62% of single parents (in one-parent families with a dependent) were employed. Out of those households, 82% (340,000) had an employed single mother.15
  • Out of two-parent families with dependents, the majority (67%) of these families had two working parents.16

In India, almost three-quarters of all working mothers (73%) leave the workforce after giving birth, and very few of those who return achieve senior leadership positions.17

In Japan, women’s workforce participation has generally dipped in the 30-34 age group to account for women leaving the workforce due to marriage or childbirth.18

  • This effect has lessened in the past 20 years—possibly due to improved legal protections for balancing work and family life, but also influenced by women having children later in life.19

CANADA

The Proportion of Canadian Households Consisting of a Mother, Father, and Children Is Declining20
  • Just over one-quarter (26.5%) of households in Canada were comprised of couples with children in 2016, a decrease from 31.5% in 2001.21

For Dual-Income Families, Children Are the Norm

Out of all dual-income couple families, 61.4% had at least one child in 2018.22

  • Of couples whose youngest child was between age 6 and 17 in 2015, 37% consisted of two parents who both worked full-time and full-year—almost no change from 2005.23
  • However, a higher percentage of couples worked either part-year and/or part-time in 2015 compared to a decade previous.24
A Lack of Childcare Options Can Affect Parents’ Work
  • Almost 10% of parents of children under age six have had to change their work schedule due to childcare difficulties.25
  • As of 2019, around 60% of children under age six participate in either formal or informal childcare arrangements.26

EUROPE

Parents with a Higher Number of Children Are Less Likely to Work Full-Time

In 2019, the European Union (EU) had almost 42 million adults who lived in households with one or more children under six years old.27

  • Nearly one third (32%) of those adults lived in households where every adult worked full-time.28
  • Households where all adults worked full-time was less common (21%) for those with three or more children compared with adults with one child (36%) or two children (33%).29

In 2019, the European Parliament voted in favor of the Work-Life Balance Directive, aimed at improving parental/paternity leave and care-related flexible work arrangements.30

UNITED STATES

Moms Are Still Responsible for the Bulk of Child Care and Housework

Despite fathers spending more time caring for children than in years past—an average of eight hours a week in 2016—mothers spent an average of 14 hours weekly on childcare.31

  • Similarly, moms reported spending 18 hours a week on household chores, compared to 10 hours a week for dads.32

Both parents are employed full-time in almost half (46%) of households that include a mother and father.33

The majority of American women between the ages of 15 and 50 are mothers34

  • 72.3% of all women with children under 18 were in the labor force in 2019.35
  • In the same year, 93.4% of men with children under 18 were in the labor force.36
  • The traditional family is no longer the norm. Families where the father is the sole breadwinner make up only about a quarter of families (27%) with children under 18.37
Almost Every Country Except the United States Offers Paid Parental Leave38
  • Only eight states plus the District of Columbia have paid family leave laws, and these widely vary from state to state.39

Paid Leave is Increasing in the US, But Still Not Common

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that increasing numbers of survey respondents offered leave over the past few years.40

  • Thirty-four percent of companies offered paid maternity leave in 2019, an increase from 21% in 2015.41
  • Thirty percent of companies offered paid paternity leave in 2019, an increase from just 17% in 2015.42

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Catalyst, Quick Take: Covid-19’s Detrimental Effect on Gender Equality.

Catalyst, Ask Catalyst Express: Flexible Work Arrangements.

Boston College Center for Work And Family, The New Dad Research Series.

Cheridan Christnacht, Briana Sullivan, “The Choices Working Mothers Make,” U.S. Census Bureau (May 8, 2020).

Yekaterina Chzhen, Anna Gromada, Gwyther Rees, “Are the World’s Richest Countries Family Friendly? Policy in the OECD and EU,” UNICEF (June 2019).

Promundo/MenCare, State of the World’s Fathers (2019).

 

How to cite this product: Catalyst, Quick Take: Working Parents (October 22, 2020).

  1. International Labour Organization, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All (2019): p. 36.
  2. International Labour Organization, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All (2019): p. 34, 36.
  3. International Labour Organization, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All (2019): p. 36.
  4. World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (2019): p. 11.
  5. World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (2019): p. 11.
  6. International Labour Organization, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All (2019): p. 37.
  7. Mareike Buenning, “What Happens After the ‘Daddy Months’? Fathers’ Involvement in Paid Work, Childcare, and Housework after Taking Parental Leave in Germany,” European Sociological Review, vol. 31, iss. 6 (July 2015).
  8. OECD, Parental Leave: Where Are the Fathers? Policy Brief (March 2016).
  9. Yekaterina Chzhen, Anna Gromada, Gwyther Rees, Are the world’s richest countries family friendly? Policy in the OECD and EU, UNICEF (June 2019): p. 4.
  10. OECD, Parental Leave: Where Are the Fathers?, Policy Brief (March 2016).
  11. Yekaterina Chzhen, Anna Gromada, Gwyther Rees, “Are the world’s richest countries family friendly? Policy in the OECD and EU,” UNICEF (June 2019): p. 10.
  12. OECD, “PF2.1 Key Characteristics of Parental Leave Systems,” Family Database (August 2019).
  13. Yekaterina Chzhen, Anna Gromada, Gwyther Rees, “Are the world’s richest countries family friendly? Policy in the OECD and EU,” UNICEF (June 2019): p. 10.
  14. McKinsey Global Institute, The Power of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in Asia Pacific (April 2018): p. 15.
  15. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Families: 6224.0.55.001 – Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families, June 2019 Labour Force Survey (2019).
  16. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Families: 6224.0.55.001 – Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families, June 2019 Labour Force Survey (2019).
  17. The Quint, “50% of New Mothers Leave Their Jobs, and Only 27% Return: Report” (April 28, 2018). 
  18. Statistics Bureau, “Chapter 12: Labour,” Statistical Handbook of Japan 2019 (2019): p. 125.  
  19. Statistics Bureau, “Chapter 12: Labour,” Statistical Handbook of Japan 2019 (2019): p. 125-126.  
  20. Statistics Canada, Families, Households and Marital Status: Key Results from the 2016 Census (August 2, 2017).
  21. Statistics Canada, Families, Households and Marital Status: Key Results from the 2016 Census (August 2, 2017).
  22. Statistics Canada, Single-earner and dual-earner census families by number of children (September 3, 2020).
  23. André Bernard, Results from the 2016 Census: Work activity of families with children in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2018): p. 2.
  24. André Bernard, Results from the 2016 Census: Work activity of families with children in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2018): p. 2.
  25. Statistics Canada, “Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements, 2019” (April 10, 2019).
  26. Statistics Canada, “Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements, 2019” (April 10, 2019).
  27. Eurostat, “Working Parents with Young Children in the EU,” Eurostat News (May 5, 2020).
  28. Eurostat, “Working Parents with Young Children in the EU,” Eurostat News (May 5, 2020).
  29. Eurostat, “Working Parents with Young Children in the EU,” Eurostat News (May 5, 2020).
  30. Promundo, State of the World’s Fathers: Unlocking the Power of Men’s Care (2019): p. 30.
  31. Gretchen Livingston and Kim Parker, 8 Facts About American Dads Pew Research Center FactTank, June 12, 2019.
  32. Gretchen Livingston and Kim Parker, 8 Facts About American Dads Pew Research Center FactTank, June 12, 2019.
  33. A.W. Geiger, Gretchen Livingston, and Kristen Bialik, 6 Facts about U.S. Moms Pew Research Center FactTank, May 8, 2019.
  34. US Census Bureau, Table 3: Children Ever Born, Number of Mothers, and Percent Childless by Age and Marital Status, and by Nativity: 2018 (April 2019).
  35. Employment Characteristics of Families – 2019 US Bureau of Labor Statistics press release, April 21, 2020.
  36. Employment Characteristics of Families – 2019 US Bureau of Labor Statistics press release, April 21, 2020.
  37. Gretchen Livingston and Kim Parker, 8 Facts About American Dads Pew Research Center FactTank, June 12, 2019.
  38. OECD, “PF2.1 Key Characteristics of Parental Leave Systems,” OECD Family Database (August 2019).
  39. National Partnership for Women & Families, State Paid Leave Laws (2019).
  40. Stephen Miller, “Employers Boost Benefits to Win and Keep Top Talent,” Society for Human Resource Management (June 25, 2019).
  41. Stephen Miller, “Employers Boost Benefits to Win and Keep Top Talent,” Society for Human Resource Management (June 25, 2019).
  42. Stephen Miller, “Employers Boost Benefits to Win and Keep Top Talent,” Society for Human Resource Management (June 25, 2019).