Subtle discrimination of fathers in relation to leave-taking: a comparative study of Slovakia and Poland

The article argues that despite a growing trend of generous leave policies for fathers, leave-related workplace discrimination against them persists, contributing to lower rates of uptake compared to mothers. Using a comparative design, we explore the link between different leave policies for fathers and differences in subtle discrimination of fathers in their workplace when it comes to leave-taking. Drawing on semi-structured individual interviews with fathers and mothers conducted in 2019-20, we compare the cases of Poland and Slovakia, two contexts similar in their inegalitarian gender structures—casting mothers as primary stay-at-home carers of young children and fathers as ideal workers—but different in policies. At the time of our interviews, Poland granted fathers 2 weeks of well-paid, non-transferable paternity leave; Polish fathers could also draw on 32 weeks of well-paid parental leave, which could be divided by parents as they wished. By contrast, Slovak fathers were entitled to 28 weeks of well-paid non-transferable “maternity leave for fathers”. Polish fathers' rate of uptake of paternity leave was the highest, their uptake of parental leave the lowest, with Slovak fathers' uptake of the “maternity leave for fathers” in-between. We find that differences in workplace obstacles linked to the three policies help explain the different rates of uptake. While fathers in Poland rarely reported opposition to taking the short non-transferable paternity leave, Slovak fathers were faced with multiple obstacles to their use of their non-transferable but considerably longer policy, ranging from a lack of established HR processes, through a need to find substitutes for their position to fears of losing their jobs. The obstacles were further exacerbated for Polish parental leave, which parents can divide freely and which is viewed as mothers' entitlement. We conclude that though gendered norms on the division of leaves remain strong in both Poland and Slovakia, casting men as ideal workers and women as primary carers, policy details matter and affect the level of discrimination. Slovak fathers with their non-transferable leave entitlements face comparatively less discrimination than Polish fathers when taking longer leaves. In sum, more egalitarian policy design may help counter subtle workplace discrimination when it comes to fathers' leave-taking.