Fathers' parental leave as a matter of negotiation

In 2007, the Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act was introduced in Germany. The aim of this reform was amongst others to shorten the time span of parental leave taken by mothers and to increase the share of fathers taking parental leave. Despite a rising participation of fathers in taking parental leave, the higher proportion of this time is still used by mothers. What are the reasons and what combination within partnerships supports or prevents fathers from taking parental leave? The distribution of economic resources, family orientation and, occupational frameworks among the partners prior to the birth of their first child effect the use of fathers' parental leave. The utilisation of multinominal logistic regression has shown the probabilities for fathers taking 1) more than two months, 2) only one or two months, or 3) no parental leave. The analysis focuses on dual-income couples and is based on an online-survey of the DZHW-graduate panel studies cohort 2001 surveyed in 2012 (n=864). A higher income of the father as well as a more supportive job environment for his partner and a higher family orientation of his partner are negatively correlated with the probability of parental leave. Positive correlated are a higher family orientation of the father himself and the parental leave rules from 2007.