Parental Leave and Beyond Recent International D evelopments, Current Issues and Future Directions

This volume brings together contributors from 18 countries to provide international perspectives on the politics of parental leave policies in different parts of the world. Initially looking at the politics of care leave policies in eight countries across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia, the book moves on to consider a variety of key issues in depth, including gender equality, flexibility and challenges for fathers in using leave. In the final section of the book, contributors look beyond the early parenthood period to consider possible future directions for care leave policy in order to address the wider changes and challenges that our societies face.

Laura Merla is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Families and Sexualities (CIRFASE) at the University of Louvain.

Parental Leave and beyond: recent developments, current issues, future directions

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.

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.

Tine Rostgaard is Professor at the Department of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University, Denmark, and at the Department of Social Work at Stockholm University, Sweden.