Disparities in parental leave 'hinder family development'
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Key takeaways
- Over a 10-year study period, just 6.4% of employees at a major urban university took parental leave, and of those, about 85% were women, 79.7% were married and nearly 60% were white.
- Women in medicine were less likely to take parental leave than women in other occupations.
- Women who took parental leave had higher incomes than those who did not.
Compared with women in other fields, women in medicine were less likely to take parental leave and more often took shorter leaves, according to research presented at the Women in Medicine Summit.
The findings also showed that women were significantly more likely to take parental leave than men.
“If we were just looking at the implication of our findings, we found that parental leave utilization is not equal, not to females and males, and we feel as though this may actually hinder family development and bonding,” Lucki Word, a student at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan, said in her presentation.
The United States is one of the few countries that does not have a mandated parental leave policy, even though “the months after birth are essential for overall health of both mother and offspring, family development, workplace productivity/satisfaction, as well as the promotion of career advancement for women,” the researchers wrote.
“Interestingly enough, there are only nine countries in the world that do not have a national paid parental leave policy and, as we all know, the months post-birth are actually really, really important for the development of families, as well as for the health and well-being of the mother, the child and father,” Word said. “Overall, parental leave has actually been shown to amplify workplace productivity as well as to promote career advancement of women.”
The researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 5,484 employees at a major urban university to analyze differences in leave between gender and profession. They found that just 6.4% of employees took parental leave, and of those, about 85% were women, 79.7% were married and nearly 60% were white.
“We found that women were more likely to take parental leave. They took longer parental leave than men, and women who actually did take the right to leave, they had higher incomes than those who did not,” Word said. “For men, we saw that they have higher incomes overall, which is something we all know, and that not taking parental leave led to men having statistically higher incomes than those men who did take parental leave.”
The researchers also noted that “gender, professional and citizenship status had major impacts on securing parental leave and parental leave duration.” Though women were more likely to take parental leave overall, women in medicine specifically were less likely to take leave and took shorter leaves compared with women in other fields (P < .05).
There are various factors that relate to access to and duration of parental leave, according to the researchers, like monetary and career repercussions. Introducing policies that educate employees about parental leave policies and benefits “can address the needs of parents in the workforce, and thus improve family bonding and dynamics, as well as workplace productivity and satisfaction,” the researchers wrote.
Word said that “establishing the conversation about parental leave policies and implementing policies where individuals can get paid while they're on leave ... is really important.”
“We believe that that can also really improve family bonding and workplace dynamics,” she said.
Maurgan Lee, of Wayne State University, told Healio that "better parental leave policies will benefit everyone."
"Not only does it help the parents, but it can improve workplace productivity, for employers when their employee is happier and not distracted by the fiscal impact of childcare and is able to bond with their newborn; and it creates a more cohesive and satisfying work environment with non-parents," Lee said.
Lee also said that employers may see people taking off work to care for their children "as a detriment to the company" and may then "subconciously decrease the value of the parent in the workplace."
"The parent who takes parental leave risks not being able to advance as far in their career because of the time off work or the assumption that they will take off work and that their work will be of less quality. For women, this is especially damaging because women are often expected to bare most of the responsibility of childcare and may not be able to advance in their careers as much," Lee told Healio. "Despite recent advancements, women continue to be paid lower than men, and thus taking parental leave has significant gender impact. It is typically not financially feasible for parents to take any extended time off without pay, and even more so an issue for a single parent."
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Word L, et al. Gender differences in parental leave usage at a major United States urban institution. Presented at: Women in Medicine Summit; Sept. 16-17, 2022; Chicago (hybrid meeting).
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