Tre reserverade månader för fäder: Kommunala effekter av 2016 års reform på föräldraledighet och lönegapet

Sammanfattning

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the municipal effects of 2016reform of the third “daddy month” on paternity leave and the wage gap betweenmen and women. The reform adds 30 more parental leave days that are reservedfor the father. Using aggregated panel data between 2012-2020 in an event study, areform intensity measurement has been constructed to divide the municipalities intoa treatment group (high-intensity) and a comparison group (low-intensity). Themeasurement calculates how exposed each municipality is to the 2016 reform basedon the difference between the new quota threshold of 90 days and fathers’ averagenumber of parental leave days taken in each municipality prior to the reform in 2016.The analysis finds that the 2016 reform increases the share of paternity leave thatfathers take. Regarding the wage gap, the analysis finds no statistically significanteffects, however the result indicates that the wage gap decreased during the selectedperiod. This suggests that paternity leave could in fact reduce the difference inwage between men and women. Using geographical variations in the analysis, givesa more detailed and nuanced perspective on the different factors that could helpexplain fathers’ uptake of paternity leave. This analysis also investigates the desiredeffectiveness of family policy reforms.