Stay-at-Home Fathering as a Feminist Opportunity: Perpetuating, Resisting, and Transforming Gender Relations of Caring and Earning

Hegemonic masculinity versus a caring masculinity: Implications for understanding primary caregiving fathers

“…It is important to note that whilst individual men approximate this traditional father in varying ways, not all men conform to these attributes. However, there is a general consensus that a good father provides for their family financially, and this good provider model remains the strongest core definition of fatherhood (Ammari & Schoenebeck, ; Dowd, ; Gatrell, Burnett, Cooper, & Sparrow, ; Lamb, ; Medved, ; Miller, ; Whelan & Lally, ). Whilst mothers can and do assume decision making roles, especially in regards to child rearing, being the primary financial provider means that fathers are typically positioned as the “head of the household,” which potentially allocates them more power as the primary decision‐maker (Catlett & McKenry, ).…”

“…In this regard, research indicates that primary caregiving fathers commonly remain tied to paid work, replace paid work with unpaid work, or become involved in community work, so they can remain connected to their "provider" identity, thus asserting to others and reassuring themselves that they are still men (Burkstrand-Reid, 2012;Doucet, 2004;Doucet & Merla, 2007;Grbich, 1992;Latshaw, 2011;Medved, 2016).…”

“…Paid work—and the notion of men as “breadwinners”—is traditionally understood as a fundamental foundation of a fathering identity, serving to legitimate a socially valued form of masculinity (Hanlon, ; Medved, ; Petroski & Edley, ; Whelan & Lally, ). Given the longstanding norm of father‐as‐provider, this subject position can be viewed as hegemonic.…”

“…In this regard, research indicates that primary caregiving fathers commonly remain tied to paid work, replace paid work with unpaid work, or become involved in community work, so they can remain connected to their “provider” identity, thus asserting to others and reassuring themselves that they are still men (Burkstrand‐Reid, ; Doucet, ; Doucet & Merla, ; Grbich, ; Latshaw, ; Medved, ). Research that has explored representations of primary caregiving fathers within Hong Kong newspapers, for example, has found that they are portrayed as remaining connected to the public sphere (Liong, ).…”

Work-to-family enrichment and gender inequalities in eight European countries

“…Nevertheless, despite some shifts in gender roles in some contexts (e.g. Medved, 2016), employed women, and especially mothers, tend to retain a greater share of domestic and care work than their partners and experience higher levels of conflict between work and family responsibilities (Crompton et al, 2007;Fahlén, 2016). Consequently, there is an extensive body of research that has focused on work-family conflict and work-family balance (e.g.…”