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Parental Leave Usage By Fathers And Mothers At An American University, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Joya Misra, Kerryann O'Meara

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

While many U.S. research universities now offer gender neutral family friendly policies, very few are what might be considered “father friendly.” Campus cultures rarely encourage men to access these policies, or do so reluctantly because some campus actors believe men will use parental leave time for their research instead of for childcare. We employ quantitative and qualitative data to compare the parental leave experiences of men and women faculty at a large research university. In doing so, we assess whether the allegation that men take unfair advantage parental leave is true at a large research university. We find that it …