Tracking parental leave to identify differences in leave entitlements: Editorial

In a recent article, Amanda J Gorton and Tess Grainger discuss the parental-leave policies of postsecondary institutions in the United States and Canada. Gorton and Grainger researched parental leave policies at academic institutions in both countries and tracked factors like length of paid leave, academic job, parent type, and the public or private status of the institution. While this information was often difficult to find, the researchers found that, on average, better leave was available in Canada than in the US and longer leaves were typically available to faculty compared to graduate students and postdocs. In the US, private institutions had better parental leave options than were available at public institutions. “Our hope is that these data [“¦] will spur universities to thoroughly examine their own parental-leave policies in comparison to those of other institutions,” conclude the authors.