Endorsing Equity and Applauding Stay-at-Home Moms: How Male Voices on Work-Life Reveal Aversive Sexism and Flickers of Transformation

Abstract

What can we learn about women’s organizational challenges by talking to men about gender roles and work-life? We attend to this question through an interview study with male executives, providing a close interpretive analysis of their talk about employees, wives, children, the division of domestic labor, and work-life policy. The study illustrates how executives’ tacit hesitancy about women’s participation in organizational life is closely connected to preferred gendered relationships in the private sphere. The case reveals a story of meaning in movement—aversive sexism marked by flickers of transformation—demonstrating how talk can both reveal and disrupt enduring gender scripts, and why hearing male voices is integral to addressing women’s work-life dilemmas.

What matters for working fathers? Job characteristics, work-family conflict and enrichment, and fathers' postpartum mental health in an Australian cohort

“…Most family-friendly policies either explicitly or implicitly target mothers. Evidence suggests 'fatherhood' is perceived as irrelevant by line managers, and persistent manager and organisational attitudes about gendered roles constrain fathers' capacity to optimally balance work and care (13,38). Fathers are much less likely to request flexibility or part-time work even when provided (39)(40)(41), and there are measurable career and income detriments for fathers who do request these changes (37,42).…”

Parents, Perceptions and Belonging: Exploring Flexible Working among UK Fathers and Mothers

“…More recently, Holter (2007) and Tracy and Rivera (2010) re-emphasize continuing resistance to involved paternity within organizational settings where masculinity is associated with high work orientation (Holter, 2007). They argue that despite 21st century trends towards relationship breakdown and single parenthood, alongside women's increased labour market participation, organizational classifications of men as belonging within the instrumental, economic provider group remain stable.…”

“…While this apparent neglect of paternal child orientation has been linked in part to historic, gendered (and increasingly inaccurate) organizational views about parenting practices (Miller, 2011), reasons why fathers should still be marginalized within work−life balance initiatives remain unclear (Burnett et al, 2013). While lack of paternal access to flexible work has been the subject of prior theorizing (see for example Holter, 2007;Tracy and Rivera, 2010), relationships between mothers, fathers and employment remain hard to disentangle. In the context of gendered inequalities, limited research exists comparing how fathers perceive and experience access to flexible working in comparison with mothers, and vice versa.…”

Work–Family Interface in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Studies in the United States, for example, have shown that managers who have directly benefitted from family-friendly policies are more likely to endorse them in their own organizations than those who have not benefitted from such policies. For instance, executives who have had stay-at-home wives were less likely to endorse family-friendly policies than those who have had working wives (Tracy and Rivera 2010). Nonetheless, employer-initiated solutions are worthy of consideration in sub-Saharan Africa where they are yet to be developed.…”