Does Paternal Involvement in Childcare Influence Mothers’ Employment Trajectories during the Early Stages of Parenthood in the UK?

Abstract

Understanding the conditions that facilitate mothers’ employment and fathers’ involvement in childcare and housework is important for achieving gender equity in paid and unpaid work. Using Sen’s capabilities framework, the article explores the effect of paternal involvement in childcare on mothers’ employment resumption nine months and three years’ post-childbirth. Logistic regression is used on the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study. Results show that the probability of mothers resuming employment increase at both time points if the father is more involved in childcare nine months post-birth – and in some cases, this is more important for her employment resumption than her occupational class and the number of hours the father spends in paid work. However, attitudes have an even stronger effect, and appear to drive behaviour, as the probability of mothers resuming employment increase significantly three years post-birth if either parent endorses more gender egalitarian roles in the first year of parenthood.

A gendered pandemic: Childcare, homeschooling, and parents' employment during COVID‐19

“…In contrast, in families where childcare is shared relatively equally, mothers worked an average of 33 h per week (an increase of 6 h) and had only a .15 probability of reducing their labor force participation. This finding suggests that encouraging greater father involvement in domestic labor is important in reducing broader gender inequalities that have been exposed by the pandemic (Alon et al, 2020;Goldscheider et al, 2015;Miller, 2020), and is consistent with recent research showing that fathers' involvement in childcare is positively associated with mothers' employment (Norman, 2020).…”

“…Because labor market outcomes are also a function of domestic responsibilities (Hochshild & Machung, 1989; Raley, Bianchi, & Wang, 2012), we also consider whether fathers' shares of childcare are associated with parents' labor market outcomes. Although most domestic supports were lost in the early months of the pandemic, greater involvement by fathers may enable mothers to maintain their labor force participation (Norman, 2020).…”

Determinants of participation in childcare amongst fathers who work very long hours

“…Thus, this also suggests that mothers may be more likely to return to work if their husband or partner is more involved or engaged in childcare. Some recent empirical research suggests that this may also be the case (Norman, 2019); that mothers were most likely to have resumed employment when their child was three years old if their husband or partner were more highly involved in childcare when their child was nine months old.…”

“…The gendered nature of the workplace may impact on the capability fathers have to be involved with children. A number of European sociologists and economists have applied Sen's capabilities framework to their research in order to understand patterns of father involvement with children (Fagan & Norman, 2016;Hobson, 2011;Hobson & Fahlén, 2009;Robeyns, 2003Robeyns, , 2009 and to explain the ways fathers' participation in childcare may impact mothers' participation in the paid labour market (Norman, 2019). Originally developed to evaluate inequality and poverty (Sen, 1992), the application of the framework to fathers' involvement explains "how state and workplace policies, social norms, and household economic and demographic circumstances" act as mechanisms that "shape men's and women's options, decisions, and behaviors [sic]" with regards to how domestic work and childcare are managed (Fagan & Norman, 2016, p. 84; see also Norman, 2017a).…”

“…Masciadrelli, 2004) and underpins broader conversations encouraging father participation (see, for example, websites dedicated to providing content encouraging fathers' participation in their children's lives, such as www.parents.com, and www.fatherly.com). Joining this conversation, scholars in the fields of feminism and sociological enquiry also note the importance of fathers' participation for child outcomes and the positive socio-emotional impacts on fathers and mothers, yet they also highlight the importance of father involvement and engagement for gender equity more broadly (Björk, 2013;Hosking, Whitehouse, & Baxter, 2010;Levtov et al, 2015;Norman, 2019). This is why, to date, much of the sociological literature focusing on fathers and their participation in work and childcare draws upon research that compares women's and men's experiences of work and care, and consequently sheds light on the enduring gender inequalities women face in the paid labour market and in the home (Bulanda, 2004;Hakim, 2006;Hofferth, 2003;McGill, 2014;Nitsche & Grunow, 2018;O'Brien & Wall, 2017;Robeyns, 2003).…”