Can Daddies Learn to Care for Babies? The Effect of A Short Paternity Leave on the Division of Childcare and Housework

To foster gender equality and involve fathers in parenting, leave-from-work targeted at fathers has been implemented in many countries. In France, until 2021, fathers can avail of a statutory paid paternity leave of 11 working-days that must be taken within 4 months after childbirth. This article estimates the impact of this short-duration and large coverage paternity leave on the gender division of domestic and parental tasks. We measure the effect of paternity leave using the Elfe survey, a national cohort of children born in 2011. We take advantage of the timing of the 2-month survey: some fathers had already taken their leave, while others intended to but had not done so by then. Taking paternity leave leads to a more equal division of several parental tasks. It affects sharing of domestic activities only marginally. The effect on child-rearing tasks is greater for first-time parents and differs by father’s education level. Paternity leave may provide the opportunity to learn how to perform child-related tasks to fathers, and involving them early in parenting.