The COVID-19 pandemic created rapid, wide-ranging, and significant disruptions to work and family life. Accordingly, these dramatic changes may have reshaped parents' gendered division of labor in the short term. Using data from 1,234 Canadian parents in different-sex relationships, we compare retrospective reports of perceived sharing in how housework and childcare tasks were split prior to the declaration of the pandemic to assessments of equality afterward. Further, we describe perceptions of changes in fathers' engagement in these tasks overall, by respondent gender, and by employment arrangements before and during the pandemic. Results indicate small shifts toward a more equal division of labor in the early "lockdown" months, with increased participation in housework and childcare by fathers, supporting the needs exposure hypothesis. We conclude by discussing gender differences in parents' reports and potential implications for longer term gender equality. Résumé La pandémie COVID-19 a provoqué des perturbations rapides, vastes et importantes dans le travail et la vie de famille. En conséquence, ces changements dramatiques peuvent avoir remodelé la division parentale du travail entre les sexes à court terme. À l'aide de données provenant de
“Dad bloggers” are an emerging community of fathers in North America. These men use social media to document and discuss their experiences as parents and gather annually at the Dad 2.0 Summit. A central topic of discussion both online and offline is how involved fathers negotiate and rework gender roles and expectations. This study examines how dad bloggers create and engage with discourse about masculinities. Using blog posts, fieldwork observations, and interviews as data, I present qualitative findings illustrating the ways in which dad bloggers challenge traditional notions of masculinity, construct “caring masculinities,” and adopt a pro-feminist perspective. Despite certain tensions and contradictions within the community, I argue that dad bloggers are reconstructing fatherhood and masculinities in ways that promote care and equality overall.
In this article, we address the question of how masculinities are constructed in advertising for the burgeoning market of men's grooming products. We present findings from a thematic analysis of all grooming product advertisements found in Esquire magazine from 2011 to 2013. Based on the results, we emphasize the ways in which these ads construct "hybrid" and "flexible" masculinities through combining symbols and narratives relating to bodywork, power, heterosexuality, work, family, and nostalgia. While the constructions of masculinity we see in these ads are hybridized and flexible, we argue that men's grooming product advertising should be read as marketing a contemporary "crisis" of masculinity in the context of latemodern consumer culture.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has the potential to change family life and the household division of labour in significant ways. We surveyed 1,249 mothers and fathers in Canada in May 2020 to understand potential pandemic related changes in housework and childcare.
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