Glimpses of change? UK fathers navigating work and care within the context of Shared Parental Leave

Banister, Emma; Kerrane, Ben

doi:10.1111/gwao.12813

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…In the context of shared parental leave (SPL), fathers tend to grant ownership to the mother rather than treating it as a collective leave benefit entitlement [ 53 ]. Negotiations within a partnership are judged to be ‘mother-led’ from a father’s perspective [ 54 ], with breastfeeding heavily dictating the distribution of leave time [ 55 ]. Gendered parenting ideology relates ‘good mothering’ to intensive embodiment of caregiving duties (i.e., breastfeeding) [ 56 , 57 ], which opposes ‘good fathering’ (i.e., providing stability via financial income) [ 58 , 59 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gendered parenting ideology relates ‘good mothering’ to intensive embodiment of caregiving duties (i.e., breastfeeding) [ 56 , 57 ], which opposes ‘good fathering’ (i.e., providing stability via financial income) [ 58 , 59 ]. Fathers’ reluctance to ‘take-away’ from mothers’ leave is a recurrent theme in the literature [ 39 , 54 ], underpinned by physiologically focused discourse [ 60 ] framing women as natural caregiving experts [ 61 ], signposting how paternal leave is positioned as a mother’s right, rather than an equal right.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Paternal Leave Entitlement and Workplace Culture: A Key Challenge to Paternal Mental Health

Ndzi

2023

IJERPH

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Paternal mental health continues to be a health concern in the UK. Paternal leave entitlement and workplace cultures have failed to support fathers in navigating the complexity of fatherhood, which has an impact on fathers’ wellbeing. Interviewing twenty fathers in the York area, this study seeks to explore the impact of parental leave entitlements and workplace cultures on fathers’ mental health. The findings demonstrate that the influence of gendered norms and hegemonic masculinity perceptions are ingrained in the current leave entitlement and workplace cultures. While fathers are entitled to take leave, the leave is significantly insufficient to allow them to forge a meaningful bond with a newborn or adapt to the change in routine brought about by the birth of a baby. Furthermore, workplace cultures fail to recognise the responsibilities that come with fatherhood and provide insufficient support for fathers. The COVID-19 lockdown presented fathers with a unique opportunity to be available and take on more family responsibilities. Fathers felt they did not have to navigate gendered and hegemonic perceptions to spend more time with the family. This paper challenges structural and cultural barriers that prevent fathers from taking leave and impacting negatively on fathers’ mental health. The paper suggests a review of the current paternal leave entitlement and cultural change in the workplace.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paternal Leave Entitlement and Workplace Culture: A Key Challenge to Paternal Mental Health

Ndzi

2023

IJERPH

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“…Sánchez-Mira (2021) and Banister and Kerrane (2022) sought to identify signs of change in the classed and gendered social structure that sustains social reproduction, wherein men are socialized and prepared for paid labor and women for unpaid labor within households. Referring to the notion of "undoing gender" (Butler, 2004), these papers show how dominant discourses and expectations around gender roles occur within cultural contexts such as homes and labor markets, and are shaped by governmental policies.…”

Section: Editorialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While social reproduction theory has been criticized for being overly deterministic and focusing on stability rather than change (Bakker, 2007), the studies of Banister and Kerrane (2022) and Arifeen and Syed (2022) present compelling evidence that well-designed and effectively implemented family policies, along with interactions across cultures, have the potential to change beliefs and behaviors. Both of these papers focus on highly educated individuals.…”

Section: Editorialmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social reproduction: Households, public policies, and alternative organizing

Ruiz‐Castro,

Grau‐Grau,

Lupu

et al. 2024

Gender Work & Organization

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This special issue (SI) contributes to a growing body of work in management and organization studies focusing on the complex relationship between social reproduction and inequalities in paid work and organizations. In this introduction to the SI, we first identify three key areas of inquiry relevant to the study of social reproduction: challenging the boundaries of productive and reproductive labor; inequalities and exploitation; and alternative organizing. We then present the seven papers of the SI that draw on research from Australia, South America, Spain, Turkey, the UK, and the US to contribute to the aforementioned areas, foregrounding distinctive social reproduction dynamics manifesting in the household and alternative organizations (cooperatives), and facilitated by state policies. Based on these contributions, we propose an agenda for future research on social reproduction that aims to address the persistence and potential transformation of the existing gender, class, and race orders. We call for future studies exploring changing parenthood roles and how these affect the organization of re/production tasks; for research revealing and investigating underlying inequalities (re)produced by public policy; for analyses of existing and potential forms of feminist alternative organizing, and how these are sometimes hindered by heteropatriarchal structures; and for the study of social reproduction dynamics across cultural, socioeconomic, and political contexts.

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Reconciling the ideal worker norm and involved fatherhood: new fathers’ experiences of requesting Shared Parental Leave in UK organizations

Atkinson

2023

Community, Work & Family

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Glimpses of change? UK fathers navigating work and care within the context of Shared Parental Leave

Abstract: This study focuses on the lived experiences of 25 professionally employed UK fathers who are first-wave beneficiaries of Shared Parental Leave (SPL), which facilitated a period of leave from work during their child's first year. Using ex-

Cited by 7 publications

References 71 publications

Paternal Leave Entitlement and Workplace Culture: A Key Challenge to Paternal Mental Health

Paternal Leave Entitlement and Workplace Culture: A Key Challenge to Paternal Mental Health

Social reproduction: Households, public policies, and alternative organizing

Reconciling the ideal worker norm and involved fatherhood: new fathers’ experiences of requesting Shared Parental Leave in UK organizations

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