Do Men Mother? (2006) (Chapter 4 of book reprinted in B. Fox [Ed] Family Patterns, Gender Relations (2014) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Caring is Masculine: Stay-at-Home Fathers and Masculine Identity
This qualitative study examined 25 stay-at-home fathers (SAHFs) in the United States and their lived experiences through the perspective of the theory of caring masculinities. Results from semistructured telephone interviews demonstrated that the majority of SAHFs voluntarily opted to be full-time care- givers, named financial reasons for becoming a SAHF, reported high levels of satisfaction in caring for their children, and experienced little change in their relationship with their spouse or partner as a result of being a SAHF. Major findings included the potential change in attitudes and masculine identities that accompany becoming a SAHF, men’s emotional connection with others, and their increased respect for caregiving. Overall, SAHFs reported incorporating aspects of masculine and feminine qualities to develop a new masculine identity that best supports their caregiving role and experiences. In addition, SAHFs identified social isolation and mixed reactions from people as the 2 main challenges against constructing and maintaining their new masculinity; they also reported support from multiple social networks (e.g., partners, female family members, other SAHFs) as a means to successfully overcome such challenges. The results are further discussed in the context of the caring masculinities framework and suggestions are provided for future research.
Masculinity and Child Care: The Reconstruction of Fathering
Sociological Review, 1998
In this article we focus on a group of fathers who use parental leave and how they include care-giving in their construction of masculinity. The fathers shape their own masculine form of care-work differently from the mothers' interaction with the child. Both mothers and fathers, however, take part in the process of reproducing masculinity as the norm by giving masculine care higher status. Care-giving activities are adopted by the hegemonic form of masculinity with its strong connection to paid work.
Understanding Contemporary Fatherhood: Masculine Care and the Patriarchal Deficit
The concept of 'patriarchal dividend' (Connell, 1995) assumes men's privileged position in the gender order, and implies that men have more agency in their lives than women. However, this article argues that when it comes to contemporary fatherhood, structural influences of employment and culturally dominant normative ideas about gender place fathers at a disadvantage. Using data from a longitudinal qualitative study of first-time fathers in Ireland, the article examines how the new fathers sought to reconcile the tensions between their role as fathers, partners and workers and offers the concept of 'patriarchal deficit' as a lens through which a new understanding of men's positions as fathers can be viewed.
Recently there has been growing interest in what is positioned as a new form of masculinity arising from the increase in fathers as primary caregivers. This new form is referred to as a 'caring masculinity', and is theorised as a radical shift away from traditional or hegemonic forms of masculinity. This paper critically examines the fathering literature, focusing specifically on how primary caregiving fathers navigate social norms with regard to masculinity. The paper concludes that there is a complex interplay between expectations of a traditional, provider father and a new and involved father. It is argued that ideas surrounding a caring masculinity are better understood as a broadening of hegemonic masculinity, rather than an entirely new form.
Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2017
Recently there has been growing interest in what is positioned as a new form of masculinity arising from the increase in fathers as primary caregivers. This new form is referred to as a 'caring masculinity', and is theorised as a radical shift away from traditional or hegemonic forms of masculinity. This paper critically examines the fathering literature, focusing specifically on how primary caregiving fathers navigate social norms with regard to masculinity. The paper concludes that there is a complex interplay between expectations of a traditional, provider father and a new and involved father. It is argued that ideas surrounding a caring masculinity are better understood as a broadening of hegemonic masculinity, rather than an entirely new form.
Journal of Family Issues
Despite the growing impact of the therapeutic discourse on family life there is limited research on how it affects lay understanding of parenthood, beyond concerns with gender roles. Drawing on a case-study of caregiving fathers in new family forms we delineate an emerging folk model of parenthood as engineering. It construes parental caregiving as lay expertise in emotion management, which includes active planning and vision, pursuit of information, time management, and emotional engagement. The cultural shift toward parenting as expertise is reinforced by fathers increased participation in childcare, as men are often viewed as lacking " natural " maternal competence and more dependent on deliberate acquisition of expertise. Notions of engineering may not be as salient among heteronormative parents who are less compelled to actively reconstruct established familial structures. While this folk model underscores a gender-neutral ideal nested in liberal ideology, the actual shift raises renewed questions about gendered power relations. Acknowledgments We are indebted to our friends and colleagues Galit Ailon, Orly Benjamin, Sylvie Fogiel Bijaoui, Kathleen Gerson, Limor Gabay-Egozi, Shira Klimor Maman, Shira Offer, amd Zvi Triger for their careful reading and thoughts on previous drafts of this article. Their insightful comments have greatly improved the quality of our argument. Thanks, too, to Oran Moked for his help in translation and style editing. We thank the editor Constance Shehan and anonymous reviewers of Journal of Family Issues for their generous and most constructive suggestions on the finals versions of this manuscript.
A Male Perspective on Parenting and Non-Parenting
1980
This paper presents aiiterature review and the author's views on the male role in parenting, including the choice not to parent'. The traditional view of male parenting is reviewed, with an emphasiskon the effects of the traditional paternal role on the development of children. The materials shift in focus to a broader consideration of the traditional male role, e.g., the hazards of the sex stereotyped male role including shorter life expectancy, unmet needs, and exposure to greater stress. Alternative roles ere suggested,, including increased involvement in parenting and participating as a co-par9nt in the gurturance and care of children. A third option is also proposed, i:e., a father role outside the nuclear family that encompasses single parent adoption or father custody in divorce. The option not to parent is also considered in this review.
Community, Work & Family, 2007
Rooted in a qualitative research project with 70 stay-at-home fathers in Canada, this paper explores the ways that work and family interact for fathers who "trade cash for care." While fathers are at home, they also remain connected to traditionally masculine sources of identity such as paid work and they take on unpaid masculine self-provisioning work at home and community work that builds on traditional male interests. They thus carve out complex sets of relations between home, paid and unpaid work, community work, and their own sense of masculinity. Narratives from stay-at-home fathers speak volumes about the ways in which the long shadow of hegemonic masculinity hangs over them while also pointing to hints of resistance and change as fathers begin to critique concepts of "male time" and market capitalism approaches to work and care. The paper concludes by pointing to several theoretical contributions to research on fatherhood and masculinities as well as to policy implications that arise from this study on the social valuing of unpaid work.
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2009
This analysis draws on longitudinal, qualitative interviews with disadvantaged mothers and fathers who participated in the Fragile Families Study (a U.S. birth cohort study) to examine how issues related to men's employment, social support, skills, and motivation facilitated their care of young children in different relationship contexts. Interviews with parents indicate that while some motivated and skilled men actively chose to become caregivers with the support of mothers, others developed new motivations, skills, and parenting supports in response to situations in which they were out of work or the mother was experiencing challenges. These findings suggest that disadvantaged men who assume caregiving responsibilities take different paths to involvement in the early years after their child's birth. Policies that overlook paternal caregivers may not only miss the opportunity to support relationships that benefit at-risk children but also unintentionally undermine this involvement.