Policy as normative influence? On the relationship between parental leave policy and social norms in gender division of childcare across 48 countries
Schindler, Simon; Schuster, Carolin; Olsson, Maria I. T.; Froehlich, Laura; Hübner, Ann-Kathrin; Block, Katharina; Laar, Colette Van; Schmader, Toni; Meeussen, Loes; Grootel, Sanne van; Croft, Alyssa; Shuyi Sun, Molly; Ainsaar, Mare; Aarntzen, Lianne; Adamus, Magdalena; Anderson, Joel; Atkinson, Ciara; Avicenna, Mohamad; Bąbel, Przemysław; Barth, Markus; Benson-Greenwald, Tessa; Maloku, Edona; Berent, Jacques; Bergsieker, Hilary B.; Biernat, Monica; Birneanu, Andreea; Bodinaku, Blerta; Bosak, Janine; Bosson, Jennifer; Branković, Marija; Burkauskas, Julius; Čavojová, Vladimíra; Cheryan, Sapna; Choi, Eunsoo; Choi, Incheol; Contreras-Ibáñez, Carlos C.; Coogan, Andrew; Danyliuk, Ivan; Dar-Nimrod, Ilan; Dasgupta, Nilanjana; Lemus, Soledad de; Devos, Thierry; Diab, Marwan; Diekman, Amanda B.; Efremova, Maria; Eisner, Léïla; Eller, Anja; Erentaite, Rasa; Fedáková, Denisa; Franc, Renata; Gartzia, Leire; Gavreliuc, Alin; Gavreliuc, Dana; Gecaite-Stonciene, Julija; Germano, Adriana L.; Giovannelli, Ilaria; Gismondi Diaz, Renzo; Gitikhmayeva, Lyudmila; Gizaw, Abiy Menkir; Gjoneska, Biljana; González, Omar Martínez; González, Roberto; Grijalva, Isaac David; Güngör, Derya; Sendén, Marie Gustafsson; Hall, William; Harb, Charles; Hassan, Bushra; Hässler, Tabea; Hawi, Diala R.; Henningsen, Levke; Hoppe, Annedore; Ishii, Keiko; Jakšić, Ivana; Jasini, Alba; Jurkevičienė, Jurgita
Date:
2024
Abstract:
In the present work, we addressed the relationship
between parental leave policies and social norms. Using
a pre-registered, cross-national approach, we examined
the relationship between parental leave policies and the
perception of social norms for the gender division of
childcare. In this study, 19,259 students (11,924 women)
from 48 countries indicated the degree to which they
believe childcare is (descriptive norm) and should be
(prescriptive norm) equally divided among mothers
and fathers. Policies were primarily operationalized as
the existence of parental leave options in the respective
country. The descriptive and prescriptive norms of equal
division of childcare were stronger when parental leave was available in a country – also when controlling for potential
confounding variables. Moreover, analyses of time since
policy change suggested that policy change may initially
affect prescriptive norms and then descriptive norms at a
later point. However, due to the cross-sectional nature of
the data, drawing causal inferences is difficult.
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