Parental leave and equal opportunities: Experiences in eight European countries

In June 1996, the EU directive on parental leave came into force. A major c onsideration in the introduction of this directive was its advantages for t he reconciliation of work and family life. However, there is little systema tic knowledge about the practical significance of parental leave arrangemen ts in the European Union for equal opportunities policy. Given this situati on, the main focus of this article is on empirical issues such as the numbe r of (male and female) leavetakers and the length of the leave. In order to present comparative data, a user rate is calculated for eight European cou ntries. It appears that the majority of leavetakers are women; even in Nord ic countries there are big differences between the user rates of men and wo men. As a result, the importance of the actual parental leave arrangements for equal opportunities seems rather dubious.