Masculinity and Fathering Alone during Parental Leave

Abstract

Based on interviews with fathers who stay home alone on parental leave in Norway, this article explores how the masculine identities of employed fathers may be affected by caring. Research on changing masculinities has been concerned with the reworking of men's gender identities into caring ones, and this article aims to add empirical knowledge on ways that parental leave for fathers may contribute to undoing gender. Findings support a development toward ''caring masculinities'' in which values and practices of care are integrated into masculine identities without degradation in masculine status. Self-worth is measured against building care competence and being able to contribute love to their children rather than acquisition of status and resources. Findings also show that fathers tend to interpret caring within conventional masculine activities such as ''hard work'' and outdoor challenges.

Paternity Leave and Fathers' Responsibility: Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Canada

“…Up to 3 years after fathers were eligible for leave, they spent about 2.2 hours more per week on average accessible to their children without the mother present. This is consistent with previous research that finds an association between leave‐taking and fathers' responsibility (Brandth & Kvande, ; Haas & Hwang, ; Hosking et al, ; Knoester et al, ), but provides stronger evidence of a direct relationship between policy and behavior. Given that this increase is estimated at the population level and that one fifth of eligible Quebec fathers do not take leave (Statistics Canada, ), this could potentially be a conservative estimate of the effect.…”

Mindre spesialisering med fedrekvote?

“…husarbeid og/eller jobb i tillegg til å ta seg av barna) (Brandth & Kvande 2003;Bungum 2013;Smeby 2013). Studiene viser imidlertid også hvordan fedrekvoten har påvirket de dominerende forestillingene om hva det vil si å vaere en god far i dagens Norge (Brandth & Kvande 2013), hvordan det å ha hovedansvar for et lite barn gir fedrene økt omsorgskompetanse, mestringsfølelse og selvtillit og bidrar til at de får en bedre forståelse for hvor både krevende og givende det er ta vare på et lite barn, og hvordan de tillegger omsorgsarbeidet større verdi enn før og inkorporer det i sin identitet som menn (Brandth & Kvande, 2013, 2016aBungum 2013). Dette er i tråd med det såkalte transformasjons-eller forvandlingsperspektivet.…”

“…Nyere studier viser at mange fedre nå tar for gitt at de også skal gjøre husarbeid under permisjonen, og at husarbeid er noe dagens menn skal mestre. Dette kan ha konsekvenser for fordelingen av slike oppgaver også senere (Brandth & Kvande 2016a;Kitterød et al 2017).…”

“…Fedrekvoten har trolig også bidratt til en gradvis endring i synet på hvordan foreldre bør dele oppgaver hjemme og ute, både mens barna er små og senere. Samtidig er fedrekvotens endringspotensial neppe realisert fullt ut (Brandth & Kvande 2016a). Selv en lang kvote trenger ikke å innebaere at foreldre fordeler omsorg og yrkesarbeid jevnere i barnets første leveår.…”

Paternal Part‐Time Employment and Fathers' Long‐Term Involvement in Child Care and Housework

“…Hence, fathers may choose to reaffirm their masculinity by avoiding housework. By contrast, they will probably not avoid child care because many men currently consider involvement with children a component of good fathering (Brandth & Kvande, ; Palkovitz, ) and—as official statistics show—because child care is often the reason why fathers choose to work part‐time (Keller & Haustein, ).…”