Fathers and Fatherhood in the European Union

Abstract

2 1. Brief Historical Overview and Theoretical PerspectivesOver the past two decades, issues related to fathers and fatherhood have attracted the attention of policymakers and researchers in both the United States and Europe, but in somewhat different ways. Public concerns about early and unmarried parenthood, increasing numbers of fathers living apart from their children, and the role of (biological) fathers in family life have been key issues in the United States (Eggebeen 2002;Marsiglio, Amato, Day, & Lamb, 2000;Pleck, 2004). On the other side of the Atlantic, new social and political challenges such as global economic competitiveness, low fertility, and the long-term financial sustainability of social programs raised questions about gendered policy logics concerning paid work and child care. Directly and indirectly, fathers were incorporated into European Union (EU) debates about how best to promote equal opportunities, to increase female labor market participation, and to improve child outcomes. Most notably, strong incentives to encourage greater father involvement, at least when their children are young, have been embraced as both legitimate and achievable policy goals. In what follows, we draw on theoretical perspectives of gendered welfare regimes to trace how shifting policy logics concerning work and care have incorporated new understandings and expectations of the role of fathers in Europe. The Male Breadwinner as Basis for European Welfare RegimesThe decades following the Second World War were, in most western European countries (the countries that comprised the EU prior to the fifth enlargement which began in 2004), characterized by rapid economic growth and welfare state expansion. At that time, the male breadwinner was the ideal (if not always the norm, 3 especially in working class families), and good fathering was implicitly equated with being steadily employed and a good economic provider (Gillis, 2000). Against this backdrop, new and generous welfare state policies were developed which presumed, reinforced and rewarded a gendered division of labor in which men took responsibility for earning an income and women took responsibility for unpaid work and child care. Indeed, prior to the 1970s, all western European welfare states more or less subscribed to a strong "male breadwinning" ideology (Lewis, 1992). The welfare models that were built around this ideology relied, in most European countries, on the assumption of a generous supply of well-paid jobs, a growing working age population (to fund generous benefits for both workers and their dependent wives and children), and legally recognized and stable (if not permanent) marriages. Sustainability of male breadwinner welfare systems challengedFrom the 1970s, economic and social changes resulted in new risks, some of which directly challenged the underlying policy logics of strong male breadwinner welfare regimes. Existing policy approaches were not well equipped to deal with the challenges of a post-industrial economy with its insecure employment...

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