Why Most Swedish Fathers and Few French Fathers Use Paid Parental Leave: An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Parents

Anna-Lena Almqvist, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University. Data drawn from Welfare and Solidarity in Postindustrial Europe study managed from the Department of Sociology, Umeå University, Sweden; Department of Social Sciences, Roskilde University, Denmark and Department of Sociology, Copenhagen University, Denmark. Financial support for the study received from the Swedish Council for Work Life (RALF) now Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS) and the Danish National Social Science Council. Earlier versions of paper presented at the Swedish National Conference in Sociology, Stockholm 2006 and the International Sociological Association’s XVI World Congress of Sociology, Durban, South Africa 2006. I would like to thank Thomas P. Boje, Lars Dahlgren, Rolf Å. Gustafsson, Mikael Nordenmark, Ingrid Schild, Eva Sundström and Rune Åberg for valuable comments on earlier versions, and those who kindly volunteered to be interviewed. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Anna-Lena Almqvist, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Box 325, SE-63105 Eskilstuna, Sweden. Electronic mail: [email protected]