Unlocking Barriers to Women’s Labor Force Participation in Armenia Through Enhancing Parental Leave Policies

Overview & Synopsis

The traditional role of women as primary caregivers in Armenia is one of the key factors behind lagging female labor force participation (LFP), with pronounced gender disparities that are particularly evident during women’s prime reproductive years. International evidence indicates that equitable parental leave policies can enhance women's participation in the labor market. Indeed, a few of Armenia’s comparator countries and European Union (EU) member states with more inclusive parental leave policies exhibit higher women's labor force participation and reduced gender gap in LFP, with improvements in women's LFP coinciding with parental leave advancements. In order to help boost women’s LFP and reduce the burden of childcare as a key barrier to it, this policy brief proposes the following approach for the parental leave policy enhancement in Armenia, based on the following three key principles: (i) introducing flexibility to the mandatory maternity leave period to allow working mothers to take the leave upon their discretion; (ii) expanding paid paternity leave days and introducing non-transferrable paternity leave to incentivize working fathers' greater participation in childcare, reduce the burden on women and promote equitable sharing of responsibilities; and (iii) offering a component of paid shared parental leave to foster collaboration between parents on childcare matters by assigning minimal days of shared leave days available at the parents’ discretion.