“It’s About Time!”: Company Support for Fathers’ Entitlement to Reduced Work Hours in Sweden

Abstract

Fifteen nations offer fathers the right to reduce work hours to care for children. Incorporating a gender perspective, this study uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the implementation of this policy in the first nation to offer it, Sweden. It investigates whether the institutional and cultural environment exerts pressure on companies to facilitate fathers' hours reduction, companies' levels of support for fathers' use of this entitlement and correlates of company support. The persistence of the “male model of work” appears to be an important barrier to implementation of a policy that offers promise in offering fathers time to care.