The aim of the conference is to present the newest findings from family and gender research on the uptake of parental leave and childcare allowance both on the international level and in Austria after the introduction of the current childcare allowance model in March 2017.

The conference will be opened by two international experts in parental leave research: Margaret O'Brien from the Thomas Coram Research Unit at University College London, UK, and Susana Atalaia, researcher at the ICS - Institute of Social Sciences, at the University in Lisbon, Portugal.

Based on the international research results, empirical research results from Austria will be presented in a second block of lectures. These will focus on the use of childcare allowance and parental leave from two research perspectives. The focus of the first presentation, which will be held by Eva-Maria Schmidt, will lie on the norms around motherhood (https://norm.univie.ac.at/), whereas the second speaker, Gerlinde Mauerer, will present the results of her current research project 'Gender and Family in Motion', in which she investigates the dual parental uptake of parental leave and childcare benefits (https://genfam.univie.ac.at/).

Following the research presentations from Austria, experts from family research and family policy are invited to share their views on the current research results and to contribute to the conference with their expertise. After a joint discussion with all the speakers and the conference guests, informal conversations at a small buffet are planned to close the event. 

The presentations will be held in English and German. For contributions during the discussions a translation service will be provided.

Participation in the conference is free of charge but registration is necessary. 

The deadline for registration is the 12th March 2023. Please registrate via e-mail: genfam23@univie.ac.at. 

Research Funding: Our research is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Project number Elise Richter V 843-G.