Is fatherhood allowed? Media discourses of fatherhood in organizational life

Abstract

It has been claimed that in the context of organizations and management, fathers are invisible. One source of tension for fathers who work and who want to participate in family life is that even though involved fatherhood is emerging in many western societies, a family‐oriented male identity is likely to be problematic for men in organizations. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of a professional and managerial men's work–family relationship using discourse analysis on data from three different media sources in Finland, published during 1990–2015. We identified two competing discourses: one of stasis, the other of change. The stasis discourse is constructed around traditionally masculine management and fatherhood roles, while the changing discourse embodies more diverse masculinities and fatherhood. We conclude that although the discourse on fatherhood in the organizational context is moving towards gender equality, at the same time a strong discourse is putting a brake on such development, especially regarding management.

Leadership practices in relation to men's work-family balance in Finnish organizations

“…One explanation for the different result is that in the Finnish environment studied here, work-family balance has been a very topical issue in recent years, especially in public discussions (e.g. the media, politics) (Kangas et al, 2019). This may have increased the respondents' awareness of the topic and their willingness to talk about it.…”

“…Although there seems to be increasing recognition nowadays in organizations and among organizational leaders of the need for men's work-family balance (e.g. Holter, 2007;Halrynjo, 2009;Allard et al, 2011;Hearn & Niemistö, 2012;Burnett et al, 2013;Kangas et al, 2019), it must be remembered that fathers do not have the same position as mothers in the organizational world. As shown here, there is still a tendency for fathers to be positioned as secondary parents, after mothers.…”

“…Even though interest in studying especially men's work-family relationship has increased (e.g. Holter, 2007;Allard, Haas, & Hwang, 2011;Hearn & Niemistö, 2012;Burnett, Gatrell, Cooper, & Sparrow, 2013;Gatrell & Cooper, 2016;Kangas, Lämsä & Heikkinen, 2017;Kangas, Lämsä & Jyrkinen, 2019), few empirical studies have been made of men's work-family balance in the organizational context (Halrynjo, 2009;Allard, Haas & Hwang, 2011), which is the focus in this study. It is not certain that women and men experience the work-family relationship in the same way (Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux, & Brinley, 2005).…”

The emotional toll of postfeminist fatherhood

“…Kangas et al. note that “‘care and career’ men, who are in the privileged position of both sharing parenting responsibilities” while maintaining a career struggle with “reconciling and meeting the demands of both spheres” (2019, p. 1437). We see here how this struggle negatively shapes Dave’s emotional life.…”

Sharing care: Equal and primary fathers and early years parenting

“…The first literature review chapter concentrates on “involved fatherhood” as a scholarly term with increasing prevalence in sociological research (e.g., Kangas et al., 2019; Norman et al., 2014; Wall & Arnold, 2007). A crucial question is posed concerning “ whether a change in ideology leads to a change in practice, or whether it is changes in practices that result in ideological change ” (p. 27).…”