Beyond maternity leave: why fathers' leave matters for families and economies

Employment-protected paid time off granted to parents to care for a new child- has long been a cornerstone of family policy across OECD countries. Traditionally, discussions about child-related leave have focused on protecting mothers’ health, supporting child development and helping families manage the financial and practical challenges that come with a new baby. But increasingly, policy conversations are turning to the importance of paid leave for fathers.

This matters because fathers’ involvement during the earliest stages of a child’s life can shape family dynamics for years to come. Yet despite growing recognition of these benefits, fathers’ and mothers’ experiences of paid leave remain strikingly different.

Evidence suggests that fathers’ leave can create positive outcomes for families and societies. When male co-workers take parental leave, there are positive knock-on effects that encourage others to do the same, reducing gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Fathers who take leave also tend to spend more time caring for their children and participating in household work, even years later. Research points to benefits for both parental well-being and father-child relationships.

This is particularly important given the persistent inequalities that emerge after parenthood. Women continue to perform a larger share of unpaid care work and often experience significant career interruptions following the birth of a child. Encouraging fathers to take leave can help redistribute caring responsibilities and support a more equal sharing of both paid and unpaid work. 

Despite the growing body of research showing the benefits of fathers’ leave, availability and use remains unequal across countries.

As of April 2025, all but one OECD country provide paid maternity and/or paternity leave at the national level. On average across the OECD, paid maternity leave lasts for 18.4 weeks, although entitlements vary largely across countries. Most OECD countries also provide rights to paid paternity leave, but these entitlements are much shorter, averaging 2.5 weeks. 

28 out of 38 OECD countries also offer parents the opportunity to take extended time off work through paid parental and/or homecare leave. On average, these entitlements amount to around 48 weeks, although again the duration differs greatly across countries. 

However, even where leave is available, many fathers do not use it.

The OECD Family Database shows that fathers are generally less likely than mothers to use paid parental leave. Across countries with available data, men only account for roughly one-third of users on average, with the share dropping in several countries to less than 10%.

Many countries are therefore moving beyond family-based leave systems towards more individualised rights. Nordic countries pioneered "use-it-or-lose-it" leave quotas reserved for fathers, while countries such as Austria, Canada and Germany offer bonus leave when both parents participate. The EU Work-Life Balance Directive has also helped accelerate reform by establishing minimum standards for paternity leave and non-transferable parental leave for each parent.

Gender norms, workplace culture, and financial considerations establish other barriers to fathers taking leave. Fathers often earn more than their partners, meaning a family may face a greater loss of income if the father takes leave. The design of leave systems therefore matters enormously, as fathers are more likely to take leave when such benefits are well paid and when leave is earmarked specifically for them.

This underlines an important lesson: expanding formal entitlements is only part of the challenge. 

Better data on fathers' use of parental leave could reveal how it impacts their partners' labour market outcomes, such as labour force participation, working hours, and wages. The effects of parenthood, including the well-documented "motherhood penalty" and its impact on incomes in opposite-sex couples, could also be analysed for same-sex parents. 

In general, better data on the use of parental leave by fathers and mothers can contribute to a broader research agenda on its connections with health, individual and family well-being, fertility, job satisfaction, productivity and the effects on co-workers and their employing firms.

The past decade has seen progress in fathers’ leave policy across the OECD. More countries now recognise that supporting fathers as caregivers is not simply a family issue but also an economic and social one. The challenge for the next phase of reform is ensuring that fathers not only have leave rights, but that they actually use them.

Achieving this will require well-designed, adequately paid and father-specific leave entitlements, alongside better data to monitor outcomes. If successful, such policies have the potential to support children, strengthen families, improve gender equality and deliver lasting benefits for economies and societies as a whole.

To learn more, visit our Gender Equality and Work page.