In only 12% of the mainly Occidental countries where the research was conducted, male same-sex couples got the same parental leave as other couples. The report, published in the Journal of Social Policy, states that on average, gay fathers receive five months less parental leave than straight couples. On average, gay mothers receive three months less.

According to Wong, the perception that women have to take care of the children “undervalues the importance of fathers' involvement”. These ways of thinking have a negative effect on gay couples, whose caring duties as parents are not more or less than other couples.

Jody Heymann of WORLD Policy Analysis Centre, who worked on the study, says: "Families benefit when all parents, regardless of sex, gender identity or sexual orientation, can access paid leave to care for and bond with their children."

Only in Sweden, Iceland, Australia and New-Zealand, are all parents legally entitled to the same paid parental leave. In Turkey and Israel, gay fathers get no parental leave at all. Trans and intersex parents are not included in the report.

In April this year, the European Parliament passed a law to give all parents at least four months of parental leave, of which two months are paid.