Fathers but not caregivers

Fathers’ parental leave uptake remains low in many advanced economies despite substantial policy efforts. We study a setting where financial and eligibility barriers are minimal: employed, Swedish-born first-time fathers entitled to generous, nontransferable leave benefits. Using Swedish population register data for 1995–2015, we document three key facts: (i) low uptake is concentrated at the bottom and top of the income distribution, with lower rates among middle-income fathers, (ii) its determinants vary across the distribution—economic constraints at the bottom and top, workplace norms in the middle—and (iii) these constraints have grown more salient over time. Quota reforms increased uptake on average but did not narrow differences in low uptake between constrained and unconstrained fathers. Using quasi-random sibling-sex composition, we find suggestive evidence that, among middle-income fathers in recent cohorts, those exposed to more traditional gender-role environments in childhood are overrepresented among fathers with low uptake. This pattern is consistent with the idea that, as overall uptake has increased, the remaining group of low-uptake fathers is increasingly selected on traditional norms. The results highlight the limits of financial incentives and point to workplace and household norms as central barriers to equal parental leave participation.