Fathers between childcare and patriarchy

Families with fathers who take extended parental leave or receive government childcare allowance are uncommon in Austria. Sociologists in Vienna have studied which experiences and everyday practices prompt fathers to take this rare step. While the results assisted in positing a typology of fathers who take extended parental leave, research also shows that even these men do not usually conform to the image of modern “caring fatherhood”.

Culture and Society

March 10, 2025

Father on the sofa lifts up his little daughter — What motivates fathers in Austria to take parental leave and why do so few take advantage of this opportunity? A research project has investigated the reasons. © unsplash+

Parents who share childcare equally are an absolute minority in Austria. Men accounted for only 4.1% of all days where parents were entitled to claim childcare allowance in 2022, the seventh year in a row in which male participation declined. In the same vein, only one percent of couples claimed the so-called partnership bonus introduced in 2017, which is only paid out if parents split their childcare allowance entitlement at least 40:60. Despite all efforts geared toward achieving gender equality, men who pause their careers to care for their infants for six to twelve months remain a rare exception.

But what about those couples where the fathers decide to take extended periods of parental leave? What are their motivations, everyday experiences and challenges? And how does this decision affect family life over the long term? Sociologist Gerlinde Mauerer from the University of Vienna and her team are investigating questions of this kind in the project “Family Care and Parental Employment in Transition”. The study, funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, is based on qualitative surveys of couples and analyzes the results in the context of theories about the social construction of images of masculinity.

“The concept of ‘caring masculinity’ is still in its early stages. Parents who want to divide their childcare time equally still face many hurdles in everyday life,” says Mauerer. “In any case, fathers assuming sole responsibility for childcare is key to the emergence of this caring masculinity model. Having men take parental leave for longer periods is also an important goal, as they only really begin to feel solely responsible for childcare after two to three months.” Research shows paternal leave beyond the two to three-month timeframe is also conducive to fathers’ long-term involvement in childcare, but that these fathers also do not necessarily abandon traditional role models.

What motivates fathers in Austria to take parental leave and why do so few take advantage of this opportunity? Sociologist Gerlinde Mauerer spoke to parents to analyze their motives.

“Men who take parental leave are very often held up as heroes in their social circle. ” Gerlinde Mauerer

Social construction of parenthood

Mauerer has been studying the social construction of gender and parenthood for more than two decades. “My earlier studies have already shown, among other things, that even with long periods of parental leave, men are not always fully responsible for childcare, for example, because mothers only work outside the home part-time or because grandparents provide support,” says Mauerer. “However, men who take parental leave are very often held up as heroes in their social circle. Their partners, on the other hand, struggle with difficulties at work and face disapproval from friends and family.”

In her recently completed project on family childcare, Mauerer looked for couples where both fathers and mothers took parental leave for at least five months or claimed the government childcare allowance. In 2021, she conducted a total of 42 interviews with couples throughout Austria. A total of 41 follow-up interviews in 2023 with parents from the earlier sample crystallized the long-term effects of the previously observed constellations. “Our interviews focused strongly on the everyday experiences of the study participants. For example, we asked them to describe what normal and ideal days with their child look like, and how activities like feeding, childcare and arranging appointments are organized,” explains Mauerer. The qualitative data was systematically evaluated with the aim of expanding the theoretical basis. Among other things, the researchers created a typology of fathers with a high “willingness to take parental leave”.

Motivations and goals for paternity leave

In this typology, Mauerer describes three basic categories. The first type is the “highly committed father”, who takes on a very active role in caring for the child from birth. “Fatherhood is seen here as an obligation that goes without saying. These fathers are interested in achieving gender equality, in parenthood and beyond,” explains Mauerer. “Fathers in this category often effectuate a kind of handover at the start of their parental leave. They use their partners’ methods as a guideline but also develop their own practices. The couple remains in close dialog and takes a consensus-oriented approach.”

Fathers in the second category approach starting a family as a joint project that needs to be managed as rationally as possible. “Parental leave is often organized as time spent together and as an intermediate step towards family life. Some use parts of parental leave to go on vacation, others to establish a household or build a house,” Mauerer elaborates, whereby these activities and spatial changes are generally associated with the transition to parenthood. “For fathers, the focus during this time is on building a good relationship with their child. They want to be more than just weekend dads and participate more in childcare in the long term as well.”

Spotlight on career

Finally, a third type focuses on equal opportunities for earning an income. “Here, both partners pull down a good salary and want to ensure that parental leave causes as few disruptions as possible in their professional life. Fathers taking parental leave is seen as a way to support their partners so that they can return to work as soon as possible,” says Mauerer. “This group disregards the fact that the economy is more likely to support fathers in their working lives than mothers. The assumption is that gender equality is a given. As far as childcare is concerned, however, women tend to assume the burden of unexpected additional labor, for example in the event of illness, over the long term.”

Mauerer’s findings are revealing in the context of the theory of so-called hybrid masculinity. This approach addresses the construction of masculinity in changing gender relations. On the one hand, men do not want to give up their claim to hegemony and continue to identify strongly with gainful employment, while at the same time embracing new concepts. “One might posit that fathers on long-term parental leave already ascribe to the ‘caring masculinity’ model. However, it can be assumed that this model is more likely a transitional stage in the context of hybrid masculinity,” says Mauerer. “Traditional attributions of masculinity are merely scaled back or put on hold. Once parental leave is over, at the latest, traditional gender roles reassert themselves. The concept of ‘caring fatherhood’ remains embedded within a limited framework.” Mothers often continue to take the lead in assuming the parental mental load in particular, i.e. the burden of organizing and planning family life, as well as coping with emergencies.

It remains to be seen whether the current situation, in which only a few fathers are assuming childcare responsibilities to an as yet limited extent, is actually the beginning of a profound shift in the image of masculinity. In any case, it could help if the legal framework were based on the equal assumption of both caring mothers and fathers. According to Mauerer, a good solution toward achieving this aim would be longer mandatory parental leave for fathers or the second parent. However, such a “use it or lose it” regulation, which has already been introduced in some Nordic countries, is not on the horizon for Austria.

About the researcher

Gerlinde Mauerer is a Senior Scientist at the Department of Sociology at the University of Vienna. Her research interests include gender and family studies, the sociology of health and illness and feminist theories. The project “Family Care and Parental Employment in Transition”, running from 2021 to 2026, has received EUR 381,000 in funding as part of the Austrian Science Fund FWF’s Elise Richter Program.