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Over the last decade there has been a gradual enhancement of British fathers’ rights in the workplace, even though the UK has one of the longest maternity leaves in OECD countries. From April 2003, for the first time, British fathers were given a legal right to take a 2 week paid paternity leave after the birth of a child, building on a 3 month unpaid parental leave entitlement available since 1999. In April 2011 a new right to allow fathers to take up to 6 months Additional Paternity Leave (APL) during the child’s first year, if the mother returns to work before the end of her maternity leave, was introduced.

This chapter examines the experiences of six British fathers who were some of the first to take up this opportunity. The study as a whole explored couples’ negotiations and experiences of leave divisions, drawing on the proposition that intimacy is a mediating factor in gender and parenting roles.

The accounts portray how, despite men’s lack of formal individual entitlement to leave, they tended to be positioned as the decision makers in taking leave. Women’s structural agency, as higher earners and as holders of the policy entitlement, was often underplayed. Drawing on Hochschild’s writings on the ‘gift economy’ of couples, we suggest that couple negotiations around APL can be conceptualised as a form of gift exchange.

In France parental leave for mothers and fathers has existed since 1977. However, the way it has been implemented sets men apart, particularly because it is heavily contingent on receiving child rearing benefits “Complément de libre choix d’activité” (CLCA) of which only 3.5 % of beneficiaries are fathers. However, since 2004 a new financial incentive to encourage men to take up leave has been initiated in the form of a part-time child-rearing benefit (partial rate CLCA). With this system, it is possible to be on parental leave and to work part-time. The provision has been successful as around 70 % of male recipients of child rearing benefit receive the partial rate CLCA. This chapter reviews the recent French policy environment and presents findings from interviews with a nationally representative sample of 25 male recipients of partial rate CLCA for a duration going from 3 to 27 months. Interview accounts suggest that part-time parental leave gives fathers the possibility to spend time with their child(ren), to establish strong emotional bonds and to share domestic and parental responsibility with their partners. However, it seems difficult for couples to establish a system of equal male/female participation as the findings show that the decision-making process is still strongly driven by gender norms. It appears that egalitarian ideals are “tied-in” with normative masculine and feminine attributes rather than in opposition to them.

Switzerland represents a unique case in the European landscape of leave policies. A minimal maternity insurance was implemented in 2005 and to this day, there is no statutory parental or paternity leave. This study uncovers the experience of pioneer fathers in Switzerland who nonetheless took leave in order to care alone for their child during at least 1 month. It analyzes the implications of leave uptake for fatherhood and gender equality, relying on 13 qualitative interviews conducted mainly in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Results show there are four different leave uptake situations. Firstly, men may take an in agreement with their employer or based on collective agreements. Secondly, companies may also have implemented a , entailing job protection and salary payment. Thirdly, men may take leave in a more individualized way, for instance by making a . Fourthly they may benefit from while caring for their children. Taking leave therefore almost always comes at a price, which explains why this is a rare phenomenon in Switzerland, observed mainly among well-educated and resourceful households.

Across these leave uptake situations, fathers report a positive as well as challenging experience during which they cared intensively for their children, yet mostly in a part-time manner. There is a mixed picture regarding the long-term implications for gender equality, as only about half of interviewees have adopted a gender equal division of paid and unpaid work. Finally, the study emphasizes the societal impact of men on leave alone in Switzerland. Because they embody—sometimes in an activist way—involved fatherhood in public spaces and in work organizations, they can be viewed as agents of social change who redefine the cultural meaning of fatherhood.

Despite the statutory implementation of parental leave in Japan for fathers and mothers in 1992 and the subsequent amendments that were, at least in part, aimed at increasing fathers’ take-up, during 2012–2013 only 2.03 % of all male employees whose spouses gave birth in the previous year have actually taken parental leave. While this is much lower than that in most European countries, the rate in 2013 is four times more than in 2005 and the proportion of fathers who took leave for one month or longer has also increased. During this period, there have been some important changes in the parental leave scheme. Under the new scheme, working parents are entitled to take leave and benefits even if their spouses are not working or on leave; and they get two bonus months of leave after their child becomes a year old if both parents take leave.

Using interviews with six fathers who took parental leave alone, this chapter shows that, among a range of factors that facilitated taking parental leave, what all fathers had in common was a flexible attitude to gender roles and respect for their partner’s career. The mothers’ attitudes to gender roles and fathers’ leave-taking also helped them make a decision that is uncommon in Japan. Analysis suggests that the new Japanese parental leave scheme, which includes incentives to enhance take-up by fathers is an important societal development.

This chapter reviews the theoretical, research and policy implications from the eleven country case studies of fathers taking “home alone leave”. The evidence suggests that across all national contexts fathers taking parental leave alone are seen as agents of social change. However, their lived experiences are diverse and complex, contingent on policy, family, life course, and individual factors.