When it comes to childcare for fathers, Austrian politics has long relied on freedom of choice. But this has prevented greater equality between the sexes, as a new study from the Institute for Family Research in Vienna shows.
Recently, only 3.3 percent of childcare allowance recipients were men. Although paid and unpaid work in Europe is unevenly distributed between genders, there are large differences between individual countries. For example, according to the research, Austria is significantly more traditional than Sweden.
While in Sweden every second mother with children under the age of three works (data from 2020), in Austria this is only a third. There are also more mothers in this country who are neither working nor on maternity leave. Only 16 percent of fathers whose children were born in 2019 received childcare allowance once after birth. In Sweden, 88 percent of fathers had parental leave.
Swedes participate more in housework
Swedish men also participate significantly more in cooking and housework. Only about one in six respondents said the family suffered because the mother worked full-time. In Austria, almost six in ten agree with this statement.
However, the fact that men with children work full-time is not questioned, as shown in another study by sociologist Gerlinde Mauerer from the University of Vienna. Mothers, who are usually on maternity leave for longer periods and often work part-time, should therefore compensate for the fact that their partners have less flexible working conditions.
If more fathers have to do unpaid work, a clear policy in this direction is needed, says study author Sonja Dörfler-Bolt. Only this year in Austria, as a result of an EU directive, fathers must take at least two months of maternity leave.
Source: Krone
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