Newswise —
Recent research conducted by Rice University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Oxford, and ETH Zurich suggests that taking parental leave can reduce gender bias and sexist attitudes, particularly among fathers.
An article titled "Fathers' Leave Reduces Sexist Attitudes" is set to be published in the forthcoming issue of the American Political Science Review. The study, which involved researchers such as Jonathan Homola, an assistant professor of political science at Rice University, aimed to investigate the impact of parental leave for nontraditional caregivers on individuals' deeply ingrained attitudes towards stereotypical gender roles and sexism. The research findings suggest that reducing such attitudes could have positive implications for personal socioeconomic status and politics.
To conduct the study, the researchers analyzed the attitudes of 1,362 new parents who were directly or indirectly affected by a policy change in Estonia. The reform, which came into effect on July 1, 2020, tripled the amount of leave time for fathers with babies born on or after that date.
The study's findings revealed that families in which fathers received longer parental leave demonstrated an increase in belief in gender equality among both men and women. Additionally, direct exposure to such policies resulted in higher support among women for pro-female policies, such as the implementation of gender quotas that require political parties to field more female candidates, even if it means reducing the number of male candidates.
Indirect exposure to such policy reform didn’t change attitudes, the researchers found.
According to the lead researcher, "Our hope is that this study will demonstrate to governments and organizations the positive impact of direct exposure to progressive social policies in reducing harmful biases and weakening sexist attitudes. We believe that this could serve as a practical and effective tool in promoting gender equality."
The paper was co-authored by Margit Tavits of Washington University in St. Louis, Petra Schleiter of the University of Oxford and Dalston Ward of ETH Zurich and Stanford University.
The study is available online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055423000369.
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