Reconceptualizing Parental Leave Benefits in Covid-19 Canada

From Employment Policy to Care and Social Protection Policy

Bibliographic Data

ID11967498
AuthorsA Doucet (0000-0002-6000-9029, Department of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, and Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, corresponding author), Sophie Mathieu (0000-0002-8749-7480, School of Business Administration, Université TÉLUQ, Québec City, Québec, and Department of Sociology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario), Lindsey Mckay (0000-0002-2071-3943, Thompson Rivers University)
Year2020
Volume46
IssueS3
PagesS272-S286
Publication date2020-08-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Public Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0317-0861 • E-ISSN: 1911-9917
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/cpp.2020-091
PMID38629984
OpenAlexW3049088103
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited44

Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spurred critical and much-needed attention to re-thinking policy approaches to child care and long-term elder care, little focus has been given to its implications for parental leave policies and parental benefits for the care of infants and young children. This article is about reconceptualizing and reconfiguring employment-based parental leave policies in Canada both during and after COVID-19. Informed by theoretical insights from the fields of care economies, feminist political economy, and care and social reproduction and by national and international parental leave research, we argue that it is time to reconceptualize parental leave benefits not only as employment policy but also as a care and social protection policy. To make this shift, we explore three topic areas: a mixed system of parental benefits that combine employment-based and citizenship-based entitlements, connections between policy design and gender equality, and the need for robust intersectional data to track which Canadian families are receiving parental benefits

Citizenship · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Disease · Economic growth · Economics · Pandemic · Parental leave · Political science · Politics · Public policy · Social policy · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Medicine · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Work-Family Balance Challenges

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