Grandparents doing gender: Experiences of grandmothers and grandfathers caring for grandchildren in Australia

Horsfall, Briony; Dempsey, Deborah

doi:10.1177/1440783313498945

Cited by 55 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…2013). Grandparents provide more care if they are retired or semi-retired (Goodfellow and Laverty 2003; Horsfall and Dempsey 2013), indicating that time availability is associated with grandparental child care, as it is with parental care (Craig 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The composition of parents’ and grandparents’ child-care time: gender and generational patterns in activity, multi-tasking and co-presence

Craig

Jenkins

2015

Ageing and Society

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How do grandparents spend their child-care time? We examine how the composition of grandparent child care differs from parent child care, and whether child-care composition is more gender-similar for grandparents than for parents. Using the most recent (2006) Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey, we investigate along three dimensions: (a) the activities child care consists of (routine versus non-routine), (b) whether it is multi-tasked (and whether it is paired with productive activities or with leisure), and (c) whether it is done solo or with a partner present. We find fathers and grandmothers' active child care is similarly apportioned between routine and non-routine activities, while mothers spend much more, and grandfathers spend much less, of their child-care time in routine care activities. Fathers and grandfathers spend similar proportions of their child-care time multi-tasking with leisure (about 50%) and performing care without their spouse present (about 20%), differing significantly from women on both these measures. Gender differences in the proportion of child care multi-tasked with productive activities (paid work, domestic work or other child care) are the same in both generations, but gender differences in the proportion of child care that is spent in routine activities, and that is done without a partner present, are significantly less for grandparents than for parents. The narrower gender gaps result from grandmothers spending less of their child-care time on these measures than mothers, not from grandfathers spending more of their child-care time on these measures than fathers.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The composition of parents’ and grandparents’ child-care time: gender and generational patterns in activity, multi-tasking and co-presence

Craig

Jenkins

2015

Ageing and Society

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“…Government effort is needed to encourage older adults to participate in grandparenting regardless of gender. In most countries, grandmothers are likely to engage in childcare because their role is regarded as essentially a maternal one (Hagestad, ; Horsfall and Dempsey, ). Interventions that provide financial support and promote grandchild care are necessary, as are interventions that increase access to social welfare services among those who provide grandchild care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of intensive grandchild care on depressive symptoms among older Koreans

Kim

Park

Choi

et al. 2016

Int J Geriat Psychiatry

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“…We can fi nd studies pointing out that women often experience a confl ict between their role of grandparent and their other roles or interests [cf. Horsfall and Dempsey 2013;Meyer 2012]. But at the same time these gender expectations can lead to a disadvantage for grandfathers living without a partner, who may lose contact with their small grandchildren because they are not perceived as suffi ciently competent caregivers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Women are, in the case of involvement in grandparenting, generally less affected by their partnership situation than their former/current partners [Horsfall and Dempsey 2013;Knuden 2012;Uhlenberg and Hamill 1998]. Divorced grandfathers show a signifi cantly lower level of contact with grandchildren, fewer shared activities, and a higher level of perceived confl icts with teenage grandchildren compared to grandfathers who are married or divorced grandmothers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Women as Care Managers: The Effect of Gender and Partnership Status on Grandparent Care for Grandchildren

Marhánková¹,

Štípková²

2015

Czech Sociological Review

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Grandparental care of grandchildren is a highly gendered institution, with women being more likely to participate in it than men. This article studies whether and why care by grandmothers and grandfathers is infl uenced by their family arrangement. Following previous research, the authors focus on the mediating role of grandmothers in the involvement of men in caring for their grandchildren. We use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data about grandparents with small grandchildren (under ten years of age). The quantitative analysis is based on SHARE data and identifi es whether the involvement in care depends on gender and the partnership arrangements of grandparents, controlling for a number of other characteristics of families. The analysis reveals a strong positive impact of the presence of a partner on the engagement of men (but not women) in grandparental care. This effect is present among both intact families and families with more complex arrangements. The qualitative analysis of 20 interviews with mothers and 20 interviews with grandmothers provides a deeper understanding of these results. It shows that the involvement of grandparents is shaped by the gender-specifi c notions of care competence and grandparental roles held by the participants and also by the kin-keeping activities of women. Grandmothers, compared to their male counterparts, are perceived as more capable of satisfying the needs of a small child. They also do more work on maintaining intergenerational family relationships and arranging care. They actively (sometimes in very sophisticated ways) involve their partners in the care of grandchildren.

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Grandparents doing gender: Experiences of grandmothers and grandfathers caring for grandchildren in Australia

Cited by 55 publications

References 16 publications

The composition of parents’ and grandparents’ child-care time: gender and generational patterns in activity, multi-tasking and co-presence

The composition of parents’ and grandparents’ child-care time: gender and generational patterns in activity, multi-tasking and co-presence

The impact of intensive grandchild care on depressive symptoms among older Koreans

Women as Care Managers: The Effect of Gender and Partnership Status on Grandparent Care for Grandchildren

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