Title:
Father-Friendly Policies and Time Use Data in a Cross-National Context: Potential and Prospects for Future Researc

Abstract:
In this paper we explore how data on the use of time might be used to investigate the multi-level connections between family-related policies and fathers’ child care time in a cross-national context. We present a case study analysis of ‘fathering strategies’ in which empirical findings from time use data are compared with detailed policy information from Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. These analyses show that time use data can indeed shed light on the nuances of the effects of specific policies in different national contexts. However, they also point to the need to consider the complexity of multiple policies and their adoption in specific national contexts across time. To date, cross-time analysis has been stalled by lack of suitable data combining detailed policy information with good comparable measures of the time spent in family work from successive time use surveys. We describe the development of a cross-national, cross-time database which combines time use data with relevant social and family policy information, with the aim of providing a multi-level research tool to those interested in exploring further the relationships between policy and family work