What is it about?
In 2004, Estonia introduced one of the most generous parental leave systems in Europe, offering full replacement of previous earnings for an extended period. However, unlike Nordic countries, the reform did not reserve any part of the leave exclusively for fathers. We studied whether fathers started using parental leave after this reform and what factors influenced their decisions. Using data on over 192,000 children born between 2003 and 2018, we found that fathers' leave uptake more than tripled over this period — from about 3% to nearly 12%. Higher-earning fathers were far more likely to take leave, largely because the system fully replaced their salary and they could receive parental leave benefits while working. When we looked at how couples made decisions together, we found that family income optimization — rather than a push for gender equality — was the main driver. Fathers were most likely to take leave when it made financial sense for the family as a whole, for example when they could combine leave benefits with employment income. Without a dedicated fathers' quota, leave-taking remained relatively low compared to Nordic countries.
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Why is it important?
Many countries are looking for ways to encourage fathers to share parental leave and become more involved in childcare, as empirical research suggests positive impact of fathers' increasing participation at home at several domains of life. Estonia offers a unique case: a very generous leave system with high earnings replacement, but without the dedicated fathers' quotas that have proven effective in Nordics. Our study shows what happens under these conditions — fathers do gradually start taking leave, but their decisions are driven mainly by financial calculations rather than evolving gender norms. This matters for policymakers designing or reforming parental leave systems. Our findings suggest that generous benefits alone, even with full earnings replacement, may not be sufficient to substantially increase fathers' leave uptake. Without non-transferable quotas reserved for fathers, economic optimization at the couple level tends to guide who takes the leave.
Perspectives
This study brings a new, under-studied regional context — Estonia and Eastern Europe — into a conversation that has long been dominated by research from Nordic countries. What was surprising to see during the analysis was how strongly couples' financial considerations shaped fathers' leave decisions. Even in a system designed to be generous and gender-neutral, families defaulted to income optimization
Sanan Abdullayev
Tallinna Ulikool
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Fathers' Use of Parental Leave in Estonia: Examining a Generous Leave Package Without Non‐Transferable Quotas, Social Policy and Administration, April 2026, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/spol.70066.
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