Use-it-or-lose-it paternity leave combined with full pay is changing norms.

In recent years, Spain has transformed its approach to parental leave. Between 2017 and 2021, the country implemented five reforms that extended paid paternity leave from just two weeks to 16 - fully matching maternity leave. Our research shows that the reforms did much more than simply extend entitlements for new fathers, they changed behaviour.

Nowadays, paternity leave in Spain is not just available, it's compulsory for the first few weeks. Since 2019, fathers have had to take at least part of their leave immediately after the birth of a child. This compulsory period started at two weeks, increased to four weeks in 2020 and to six in 2021. The leave is also non-transferable - each parent has their own entitlement, which cannot be transferred to the other - and fully paid.

Unlike in countries like Norway and Sweden, Spanish fathers cannot defer their leave beyond the child's first year of life, nor can parents share leave between them. These design choices have created a strong incentive for fathers to use their entitlement.

Using administrative data from Spain's social security system, covering all births between 2016 and 2023, we have looked at what happened after each reform.

Simply offering paternity leave may not be enough: making it the default option - or even compulsory for part of the time - can increase take-up

Fathers take up their leave

We find that take-up of paternity leave increased dramatically. Before the reforms began in 2017, only 46% of fathers used their entitlement. By 2023, that figure had risen to over 75%. The most significant change happened in 2019, when part of the leave became compulsory. Take-up increased by around 20 percentage points after that reform alone.

Indeed, since 2019, the participation rate for fathers has been higher than for mothers. This counter-intuitive outcome reflects eligibility rules: mothers are slightly less likely to meet the necessary employment conditions to qualify for leave than fathers.

Our research also shows that fathers not only started using their leave in greater numbers: they also used most of their entitlement. Each time that paternity leave was extended, fathers took nearly all the additional weeks (see Figure 1). Mothers' behaviour did not change: over the period we analyse, nearly all mothers continued to take the full 16 weeks available to them.

This shows that extending paternity leave led directly to fathers spending more time at home after a child's birth.

Figure 1: Evolution of average leave duration

Each time paternity leave was extended, fathers took nearly all the additional weeks

flexibility matters too

We also find that fathers increasingly used the flexibility available to them. Since 2018, parents have had the option to "split" their leave into two or more non-consecutive periods. By 2019, around 30% of fathers were splitting their leave; and by 2023, that figure had surpassed 50%. This suggests that many fathers used their mandatory entitlement immediately after birth but reserved the rest for later - often when mothers returned to work.

In addition, fathers increasingly made use of the option to take leave on a part-time basis. Although this remains relatively rare - around 7% of fathers in 2023 - it is likely that more fathers will start making use of this option.

Is it the same for all fathers?

When it comes to the total length of leave taken, we find little difference across fathers of different ages, income levels, regions or industries. Nearly all fathers took close to the full 16 weeks.

But flexibility was a different story. Fathers in the top income quartile were 32 percentage points more likely to split their leave than those in the bottom quartile. There is also substantial variation across sectors, with more than 70% of fathers in finance/insurance and information/communication jobs splitting leave, while only 35% in the hospitality sector and 43% in the construction sector did so.

The ability to manage leave flexibly - to spread time off across periods, or to work part-time while on leave - seems to depend on job quality and work conditions.

Lessons for other countries

The Spanish experience contrasts with that of many other countries. For example, in Norway (Canaan et al, 2022) and Sweden (Campa, 2024), policies to extend fathers' reserved leave have often led to modest or slow increases in take-up. A key difference lies in design: in countries where paternity leave is optional, less generously paid or transferable to mothers, fathers are less likely to use it.

Spain's approach shows that policy design matters. Making part of the leave mandatory, reserving it exclusively for fathers and ensuring full pay have been crucial for increasing take-up.

This is consistent with findings from behavioural economics, which show that default rules and the structure of incentives shape decisions. Simply offering fathers leave may not be enough. Making it the default option, or even compulsory for part of the time, can help to overcome barriers to take-up.

Implications for gender equality

Our study doesn't examine directly whether increased paternity leave causes changes in household labour or employment patterns. But previous evidence suggests that encouraging fathers to take leave can shift social norms (Farré et al, 2023), support mothers' participation in the workforce (Farré and González, 2019) and influence how children perceive gender roles in later life (Fontenay and González, 2024).

While the short-term labour market effects for fathers may be small (Gorjón and Lizarraga, 2024), equalising leave entitlements could help to reduce the so-called "child penalty" faced by mothers over the longer term. By normalising fathers' involvement in early childcare, these policies could reshape expectations among employers, families and society more broadly. We are currently investigating this question.

Our research shows that well-designed policies can change behaviour. In Spain, successive reforms made taking paternity leave the norm - and fathers responded. When incentives are clear, rights are individual and use is mandatory, fathers step up.

For other countries seeking to promote shared childcare and gender equality, Spain's experience offers a clear message: design matters.

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21 October 2025     Paper Number CEPCP715

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This CentrePiece article is published under the centre's Labour programme.

This publication comes under the following theme: Gender in the labour market