“I would have liked to but...” - Obstacles to taking paternity leave

Abstract

Despite a continuous expansion of legal options, the take-up of paternity leave in Austria is still low and has recently even declined. This article examines the motives of fathers for (not) taking parental leave based on 37 guided interviews. The results show that the motives for or against paternity leave differ both between fathers who have not taken paternity leave, who have taken short or longer periods of leave, and to some extent within the respective types. In the case of fathers who have not taken parental leave and fathers who have only taken the part of parental leave reserved exclusively for them, the decision is often based on a combination of several hindering factors. Fathers who were on parental leave for longer than two months opted for this type of leave either for pragmatic reasons or because of their personal convictions. Traditional role models continue to shape the attitudes and further the behaviour of the vast majority of fathers.