Fatherhood in the 21st Century

Work, parenting and gender: the care–work negotiations of three couple relationships in the UK

“…Williams (2010) describes this phenomenon as a 'maternal wall' of discrimination as employers construct working mothers as having less capacity to work and more likely to take time off work due to caregiving responsibilities. Significantly, a burgeoning body of evidence on men as fathers is beginning to inform this work-care landscape including fathers' attempts to reconfigure traditional ways of working and caring (Dempsey and Hewitt, 2012;Doucet, 2006;Kaufman, 2013;Miller, 2010). Williams (2010) suggests that men with caregiving responsibilities have experienced discrimination from employers who refuse them the right to leave work when a child is sick.…”

“…Williams (2010) suggests that men with caregiving responsibilities have experienced discrimination from employers who refuse them the right to leave work when a child is sick. Dempsey and Hewitt (2012) note a rise in the awareness that men have childcare and home-related responsibilities, beyond breadwinning. However drawing on international comparisons of London, New York and 'patriarchal' Singapore, Tan (2014:1) notes that gendered caring, working and parenting persist in many nations around the world with intensive mothering prevalent and expected as a social norm in Singapore.…”

“…In other words, contemporary fathering culture suggests that fathers should be actively involved in the care of their children (Dempsey and Hewitt, 2012;Cosson and Graham, 2012). That said, there are obvious contradictions between suggested fathers' involvement and actual parenting practices (Craig, 2006).…”

“…Thus, although there is, at least implicitly, evidence of gender influencing the care-work negotiations between Debbie and Stan, the intersections of working and financial status are also prevalent. Dempsey & Hewitt (2012) suggest that these complex intersections have implications on fathering in early twenty-first century and, more broadly, parenting relationships in their rich diversity.…”

Pregnant partners: Fathers of theGrowing Up in New Zealandchildren

“…First, developmental psychology has moved from a focus on the child as the object of interest to considering the dyad of mother and child. Recently however the impact of fathers on their children's development has been recognised (including in a Special Issue of this Journal; Dempsey & Hewitt, 2012) and a large body of research now exists that examines the benefi ts to children's wellbeing of good father involvement (Lamb & Tamis-Lemonda, 2004). Second, men themselves have moved from solely being 'providers' to being increasingly involved with the day-to-day lives and rearing of their children (Bianchi & Milkie, 2010).…”