Who Takes the Leave? Rethinking Maternity and Paternity Rights in the EU
European parental leave systems still reflect a simple but costly assumption: that care is primarily a woman’s responsibility. Despite decades of progress on gender equality, policies across the EU continue to leave both parents without the financial security or institutional support needed to share early childcare equitably. In practice, this imbalance forces women to shoulder the majority of caregiving duties, reinforcing persistent inequalities at home and in the labour market.
This is not merely a cultural lag; it is a structural policy failure. Without meaningful reform, Europe risks perpetuating an unfair system that shapes who can participate fully in work, who bears the economic costs of parenthood, and, ultimately, who can choose to have children at all.
The Deep-Rooted Structural Problem
At the European Union level, there are legal guarantees: the EU enshrines a minimum of 14 weeks of maternity leave and 10 working days of paternity leave under its work-life balance legislation (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2019). But “minimum” often does not mean “sufficient.” In many countries, national systems fall short of providing meaningful leave for both parents to actively participate in early child-rearing, especially in a way that challenges traditional gender roles.
According to OECD data, while paid leave for fathers is widespread (35 out of 38 OECD countries), the typical paid paternity leave averages only 2.4 weeks, and “shareable” parental leave earmarked for fathers averages 10.3 weeks, yielding a total of about 12.7 weeks of paid leave for fathers on average (OECD, 2025). Crucially, even where these entitlements exist, the share of fathers who actually use them remains limited. 
The rewards for taking leave also differ: payment rates and generosity vary wildly between countries. For many fathers, the financial disincentive is real: taking leave results in a significant reduction in income, especially when they are the higher-earning partner. Thus, this economic hurdle, combined with cultural norms and workplace pressures, leads many men to opt out.
Gender Equality and the Cost of “Motherhood Penalty”
The consequences of this imbalance go far beyond the individual family. Unequal leave uptake often means that once a child arrives, women disproportionately reduce their working hours or take significant career breaks. The long-term impact is often referred to as the “motherhood penalty”, which is not only a short-term loss of income but also slower career progression, lower lifetime earnings, and reduced retirement savings.
Research from the European Institute for Gender Equality underscores how differential access to leave and its unequal use by men reinforces the gender care divide (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2019). When women bear nearly all of the caregiving burden, they pay a price in professional opportunities. At the same time, men lack the institutional and cultural support to step in.
Parental leave, therefore, is not just a “family issue”: it’s a gender-equality issue. If Europe is serious about reducing its gender pay gap and ensuring that women don’t have to choose between career and family, leave policies must reflect this, with both parents empowered and encouraged to use them.
A Demographic Dimension: Why This Matters for Europe’s Future
The stakes of reform go beyond gender equality. Europe is facing a significant demographic crisis. According to Eurostat’s 2025 demography report, the EU’s total fertility rate in 2023 fell to 1.38 births per woman, well below the replacement rate of ~2.1. At the same time, the average age at first childbirth has risen to 29.8 years (European Commission, 2025).
These trends have profound implications because low fertility threatens long-term economic vitality, the sustainability of social-welfare systems, and population stability. If having children feels like an insurmountable trade-off between career, financial security, and personal well-being, fewer people will take that leap.
Parental leave reform, then, isn’t just social policy, but it becomes a strategic lever for demographic resilience. By giving both parents real support to care for their children without derailing their careers, Europe can strengthen its social fabric and make parenthood a more realistic option.
Good Practice, and Not-So-Good Practice: Where Europe Excels and Lags Behind
To understand what reform could look like, it helps to examine both the successes and the failures across European countries.
Exemplary Models
Sweden stands out. Swedish parents have access to 480 days of paid parental leave, of which 90 days are reserved exclusively for fathers. This design encourages men to take time off and normalises shared caregiving in the first months and years of a child’s life (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2019)
Iceland is also a model as it implements strongly non-transferable quotas and ensures that fathers are incentivized to take a significant portion of leave. This isn’t just a policy tweak, it’s a cultural commitment to equality.
These systems show that structural policy design can drive behavioral change. When men have “their own” leave that they can’t just hand off to the mother, more of them use it, and caregiving becomes more balanced.
Areas That Need Major Reform
In Italy, despite statutory parental leave, fathers rarely take it. Cultural expectations and weak financial support mean that motherhood remains the default.
Similarly, Greece lags significantly: both the cultural norm and policy design discourage men from taking parental leave, and many mothers end up carrying the burden alone.
Beyond these anecdotal cases, data from Eurofound and other sources show that in several countries, the share of fathers taking leave remains extremely low (Eurofound, 2018). Hence, there are economic, cultural, and policy barriers everywhere: from low compensation to inadequate awareness and rigid workplaces.
The Hidden Costs of Inaction
When parental leave is unevenly distributed, its consequences ripple far beyond the household. Women, in particular, absorb the long-term economic cost. Career interruptions often translate into slower progression, reduced access to senior roles, and a more fragile position upon returning to work. Over time, these setbacks compound, reinforcing persistent gender pay gaps and inequalities in lifetime earnings.
Men, by contrast, are not unaffected by this imbalance; they are excluded from it differently. Limited access to or uptake of leave reduces their opportunity to engage meaningfully in early caregiving, constraining both family involvement and personal development. In doing so, existing norms that frame care as a predominantly female responsibility remain largely unchallenged.
The effects extend to children as well. A substantial body of research shows that early engagement from both parents contributes positively to emotional and cognitive development. When fathers are absent from this critical period, these benefits risk being diminished. (Houmark, Nielsen & Smith, 2024)
Employers and economies also bear the cost. Unequal leave structures contribute to higher staff turnover, lower job satisfaction, and a narrower talent pipeline, particularly as women disproportionately scale back their careers. At a macro level, these dynamics feed into broader demographic and economic challenges, from shrinking workforces to increased pressure on social protection systems.
Concrete Proposals for a Fairer Future
Addressing these imbalances requires more than incremental adjustments; it calls for structural reform in how parental leave is designed and implemented across Europe. At its core, this means ensuring that both parents have access to sufficiently long and meaningful periods of leave. Crucially, a significant share of this time must be non-transferable. Evidence from countries that have introduced “quota months” for fathers shows that when leave is reserved rather than shared, uptake becomes more balanced. (OCDE, 2025)
Duration alone, however, is not enough. Compensation levels are equally decisive. Without full or near-full pay, many families simply cannot afford for both parents to take leave, particularly where one partner earns more. Financial incentives, such as targeted supplements or “equality bonuses,” can play an important role in encouraging a more equal distribution.
Access remains another structural barrier. In many EU Member States, non-standard workers, including those in part-time or self-employed roles, are still excluded or face significant restrictions. As research from the European Institute for Gender Equality highlights, eligibility criteria tied to contract type continue to limit the reach of parental leave systems. Simplifying administrative procedures is equally important: if accessing leave is overly complex, uptake will remain uneven. (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2019)
Beyond leave itself, the transition back to work must be better supported. Stronger enforcement of flexible working arrangements, including remote work and phased returns, is essential. These measures should not be treated as exceptional benefits but embedded as standard practice within organisational cultures.
Finally, policy design cannot operate in isolation. Cultural norms continue to shape how leave is perceived and used, making public awareness campaigns and workplace-level support critical. At the same time, parental leave must be aligned with accessible and affordable childcare systems; without a reliable care infrastructure, returning to work remains a significant risk. Coordinated action between governments, employers, and civil society is therefore essential to ensure that work and care are not positioned in opposition, but as mutually reinforcing parts of a functioning system. (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2019)
The Moral and Political Imperative
Reforming parental leave is not simply a matter of policy refinement since it goes to the heart of how European societies distribute opportunity, risk, and responsibility. As long as women continue to take on the majority of caregiving, the economic and professional costs of parenthood will remain unevenly allocated. In this sense, parental leave is not just a support mechanism for families, but a key lever in addressing structural gender inequality.
The implications are equally significant from an economic perspective. In the context of ageing populations and declining birth rates, Europe cannot afford systems that discourage both family formation and full labour market participation. Well-designed parental leave policies can help mitigate these pressures by making it more feasible to combine work and care without long-term penalties.
There is also a broader societal dimension. More balanced caregiving arrangements are consistently associated with higher levels of well-being, stronger family relationships, and better mental health outcomes. Enabling fathers to take an active role from the outset is not only a question of fairness, but of social sustainability.
Ultimately, the credibility of the European Union’s commitment to gender equality is at stake. Legal minimums alone are insufficient if they fail to translate into meaningful, lived change. If Europe is serious about advancing equality, its parental leave frameworks must move beyond symbolic provisions and actively reshape how care is shared in practice.
Personal Commitment and Call to Action
The challenge of parental leave is not abstract. It touches the fundamental question of how Europe values care, equality, and family life. Women cannot continue to bear the brunt of caregiving without suffering long-term economic and professional penalties, and men cannot remain excluded from the first, formative months of parenthood without limiting their own opportunities for connection and growth.
Europe can no longer treat parental leave as a marginal social policy. It is a defining test of its commitment to equality, economic resilience, and the kind of society it wants to be. The solution requires more than incremental change: longer, better-compensated leave for both parents, non-transferable quotas, accessible childcare, workplace flexibility, and cultural shifts that normalize shared caregiving.
For parents, for children, and for the future of Europe, the time to act is now.
