Designing Parental Leave Policy: The Norway Model and the Changing Face of Fatherhood

Nordic countries lead the way in facilitating better work-family integration through their design of parental leave policies that encourage men towards life courses with greater care responsibilities.

Based on original research, this compelling book offers a novel analysis of the everyday parental practices of fathers and parents in Norway as a way of understanding the workings of labour market and welfare policies, whilst considering how migrant fathers might relate to the expectations such laws generate. The authors showcase how this style of men’s care work constitutes a re-gendering of men by promoting ‘caring masculinities’.

Berit Brandth is Professor Emerita at Department of Sociology and Political Science at Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her main areas of interest include work, family and care policies with a special focus on fathering and parental leave, as well as rural gender studies.

Elin Kvande is Professor at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Her research interests include dynamics and change in gender relations in organizations, welfare state policies and fathers' use of care policies.