1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«In order to increase parents’ participation in parental leave, in 2006 Quebec reformed its paid leave program […] to offer higher benefits and institute a ‘daddy-only’ quota that reserved 5 weeks for fathers. In this dissertation I investigate the effects of this landmark reform on various dimensions of inequality. [More specifically,] I analyze whether QPIP [Quebec Parental Insurance Program] affected the gender gap in parents’ leave participation. [Then,] I investigate how this exogenous increase in fathers’ leave taking under QPIP may have affected household sex-specialization in the long-term. [The last chapter] explores whether QPIP reduced inequalities in leave-utilization across socioeconomic strata, and in turn reduced health inequalities.» (résumé)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«To analyze the immediate impact of QPIP on parents’ leave behavior, I use data on benefit claims collected through the Employment Insurance Coverage Survey (EICS) […].» (p. 12) «To analyze the long-run effects of QPIP on the division of household labor, I use time-diary data from Canada’s General Social Survey (GSS) […].» (p. 51) «To investigate QPIP’s impact on mothers’ leave behavior, I use data on parental benefit claims that is collected by Statistics Canada through the Employment Insurance Coverage Survey (EICS) every year […].» (p. 79)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

Regarding the first specific objective, «I find that QPIP had an immediate program effect of increasing fathers’ leave participation by 53 percentage points and leave duration by 3.1 weeks, with no immediate effect on mothers’ leave behavior. I find evidence that the ‘daddy-only’ quota produces an intra-household fly-paper effect: even though the quota does not change a binding constraint for most families in Quebec, the ‘daddy’ benefits stick to fathers. [Regarding the second objective,] I find that QPIP had a large and persistent effect on the division of household labor. In exposed households, fathers experience decreased time in market work and personal income, while mothers experience increased time at the workplace, labor supply, and personal income. The organization of non-market work also changes: Fathers increase time in housework, while mothers move time away from housework and towards childcare instead. Overall, households exposed to QPIP are found to be less sex specialized. [In regards to the last objective,] I find that QPIP increased mothers’ leave participation, particularly among never-married mothers and low-income mothers, who previously took significantly less leave. On average QPIP increased breastfeeding initiations by 6% and increased the duration of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding, but the program effects favored married, educated, high-income mothers, suggesting increasing health inequalities.» (résumé)