Informal workplace cultures prevent fathers from taking parental leave
Generous laws governing parental leave are not enough to bring about an equal and shared parenthood. One of the obstacles is that men take shorter leave so as not to cause problems for the colleagues covering for them, according to studies from the University of Gothenburg.Fathers have a legal right to paid parental leave in 28 European countries. Sweden is the country with the most generous laws and also the country where fathers take the most leave. But Swedish fathers still take less than a third of the parental leave that women take. There are fewer fathers taking leave in the