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Good practice Imported

Faroese Parental Leave Reform & the Gender Equality Commission

Faroe Islands · Tórshavn · See the Faroe Islands profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 55% 63/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

The Faroe Islands extended parental leave from 48 to 52 weeks in 2020, with 4 weeks reserved for fathers - yet fathers use only 4 of 52 weeks on average while mothers use 48, a gap the statutory Gender Equality Commission has publicly criticised.

~4 weeks
Weeks of leave used by fathers (of 52 available)
~48 weeks
Weeks of leave used by mothers (of 52 available)
25,000 → 27,000 DKK
Monthly payment ceiling increase (2022) (2022)
Faroese Parental Leave Reform & the Gender Equality Commission

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Gender Equality Commission (Javnstøðunevndin)
Period
2001-present (extended 2020)
Keywords
parental leave, family policy, gender equality commission, labour market

Context

The Faroese parental leave scheme, in place since 2001 and extended in 2020 from 48 to 52 weeks, gives mothers 14 weeks, reserves fathers a 4-week quota, and lets the remaining 34 weeks be freely shared; the independent Gender Equality Commission (Javnstøðunevndin) oversees gender-discrimination complaints under the 1994 Equality Act.

Results

In practice uptake remains starkly gendered: fathers use only about 4 of 52 available weeks while mothers use roughly 48, largely because the scheme's lower benefit ceiling means the lower-earning parent (usually the mother) takes most paid leave.

Conclusions

The Commission's own head has publicly argued the 2022 payment-ceiling increase (25,000 to 27,000 Danish kroner/month) remains too low, and that a ceiling of at least 45,000 kroner (~€6,050) is needed before fathers' leave becomes financially viable for most families — an honestly documented example of a formally gender-neutral law producing a strongly gendered outcome, useful both as a leave-policy model and a cautionary lesson on the limits of leave quotas without matching wage-replacement levels.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Publicly funded parental-leave benefit scheme with a monthly payment ceiling (27,000 DKK as of 2022).
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Gender Equality Commission (Javnstøðunevndin) — independent statutory oversight body

Conditions for success

  • Non-transferable father quota alongside shareable leave

Common failure modes

  • Low wage-replacement ceiling discourages higher-earning parents (typically fathers) from taking their full share of shareable leave

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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