Fatherhood and the nexus of gendered attitudes towards domestic violence amongst future teachers in Poland

Abstract

In this paper we claim that gender attitudes towards fatherhood and parental practice, change quicker than attitudes of Polish society towards domestic violence (DV) and gender stereotypes. In the literary review we used an interpretative approach, embedded in Michael Rush’s (2015) theoretical framework, based on the Nordic turn in social policy and the convergence and divergence of fathering across cultures (Seward & Rush, 2016). Focusing on an empirical case study a questionnaire directed to future teachers was used as a method of data collection, to interlink attitudes towards fatherhood, masculinity/femininity archetypes and violence in intimate relationships. Gender stereotypes as well as attitudes towards DV and paternal involvement are strongly interconnected, and yet social change in these areas occurs at varied speeds in each field, due to the differences in which society accepts new norms. Whilst many studies suggest that involved fathers have a positive impact, leading to a decrease in violent behaviour, we take this further, demonstrating that change in fatherhood patterns has a positive impact on decreasing the social tolerance of DV. However, as our study shows this must be accompanied by changes in gender stereotypes, including attitudes towards fatherhood.