Download International Research on Fathering: An Expanding Horizon

International Research on Fathering:
An Expanding Horizon
RUDY RAY SEWARD
University of North Texas, USA
RUDOLF RICHTER
University of Vienna, Austria
As the articles in this special issue attest, the scholarly study of fathers has
become a global phenomenon. The articles are based on just a few of the papers dealing with fathers presented at the International Sociological Association’s XVII World Congress of Sociology held in Durban, South Africa in
2006. The papers presented by authors from around the globe were part of
sessions organized by the ISA’s Committee on Family Research. The articles
selected for publication focus on fathers caring for young children within the
constraints men face when trying to meet diverse fatherhood expectations.
Several articles address the role parental leave from paid work plays in fathering. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized to study fathers, fathering, and fatherhood in South Africa, Belgium, Finland, Japan,
Italy, Sweden, and France. Many comparisons are made with other nations, especially the United States.
Keywords: fathers, fatherhood, fathering, parenting, childcare, comparative
studies
Scholars on every continent and in growing numbers, both within and across nations, focus on issues related to fathers. The articles in this issue represent a very small
but geographically diverse sample of current global research on fathering. The articles
are based on papers presented at the International Sociological Association’s (ISA)
XVII World Congress of Sociology held in Durban, South Africa, from July 23 to July
29, 2006. The papers were presented in sessions organized by Research Committee 06
of the ISA, also known as the Committee on Family Research (CFR). Scholars from
around the globe have presented papers focusing on fathering at annual conferences of
the CFR with increasing frequency since the early 1990s. CFR is one of the ISA’s oldest, largest, and most active research committees. Over 350 scholars residing in 53 dif-
Rudy Ray Seward, Department of Sociology, University of North Texas, USA; Rudolf Richter,
Department of Sociology, University of Vienna, Austria.
Correspondence concerning this editorial and special issue should be sent to Rudy Ray Seward,
Department of Sociology, University of North Texas, P. O. Box 311157, Denton, Texas 76203-1157, USA.
Electronic mail: [email protected]
Fathering, Vol. 6, No. 2, Spring 2008, 87-91.
© 2008 by the Men’s Studies Press, LLC. http://www.mensstudies.com. All rights reserved.
fth.0602.87/$12.00
DOI: 10.3149/fth.0602.87
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ferent counties belong to CFR. As was the case at the ISA’s 2002 World Congress in
Brisbane, Australia, often numerous sessions at CFR conferences include papers dealing with fathers.
The number of paper proposals dealing with fathers submitted for the 2006 congress was more than double the amount submitted in 2002. Junior scholars, as well as
senior scholars, submitted papers reporting on research findings and dealing with theoretical applications. The authors included sociologists, social workers, psychologists,
demographers and others representing most of the disciplines that study families. They
came from universities located on every continent. An anonymous peer review process
was used to select, which of the twenty eight proposed papers would be presented in
the fatherhood session and which one would be listed as contributed papers. Many of
the papers not initially selected for the fatherhood session were accepted in other sessions. One session changed it focus and title to reflect the inclusion of several papers
on fathers. The theoretical and empirical papers addressed an array of aspects on fathering. Topics included the impact of a gender equality ideology, fathers’ identity and
behavior patterns, division of family labor, transition to fatherhood, single fathers, impact of parental leave on father involvement, and cross-national comparisons. All authors were invited to submit their papers for consideration for publication in this special
issue.
Evaluating the papers, selecting the best ones for publication, and supervising their
development into articles for the journal were a team effort involving editors, expert reviewers, and support staff. A special challenge was dealing with authors whose native
tongue was not English. Reviewers and editors often provided extraordinary mentoring for authors of the accepted manuscripts and for some authors whose papers were
not accepted. Several of the manuscripts went through more than the usual number of
revisions before finally being accepted.
The initial criteria for selection stressed selecting papers that were comparative
and represented different regions of the world. Though not planned, all the selected papers that became articles concentrate on fathers with young children. A special focus
thus is on the caring father or issues that have implications for caring fathers. A common theme addressed is the societal constraints on the behavior of fathers as it relates
to the changing vision of fatherhood. Central questions most of the articles deal with
include the following: To what extent has a “new” approach to fathering emerged? Is
the concept of the caring father just an often stated norm, a theoretical concept, or is it
actively practiced?
Most of the articles address the role of parental leave from paid work as it relates
to the practice of fathering. Employment leave of some type for fathers, in addition to
or part of the leave provided to mothers, has become one of the most popular means by
governments and employers world wide to try and enhance fathers’ involvement with
their young children. In addition in many countries, providing fathers employment
leave is considered one way to challenge the traditional gendered division of labor.
Mothers’ responsibility for domestic duties especially child care and fathers’ responsibility for providing has been strongly embedded beliefs in societal and family structures
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for a long time. Providing leaves for fathers has had mixed results, most of which are
not very impressive. When both parents are eligible for leaves, mothers still take most
of what is available. Initially, few fathers, if any, take leave and participation rates have
increased very slowly. Scandinavian countries report the most success at getting fathers to take leave but only after portions of parental leaves were made mandatory for
fathers.
Especially in Europe, the issue of caring fathers has been connected with discussions of concerns about low fertility. As more women have been employed, the challenges of combining family and paid work increasingly influence fertility decisions.
Mothers usually play the central role in these decisions as they most often are the ones
who have to balance career and childcare obligations. Nevertheless for couples it matters if fathers can and will stay at home for a certain period of time. This depends not
only on parents’ wishes but very much on the income of the household, their work context, and their social networks, which may or may not be supportive.
Whether a father takes parental leave or how much he shares household chores
are more than just matters of economic and legal prescriptions. Social norms and expectations matter as well. Social networks frame values and interactions in the work
place influence decisions. How labor tasks should be and are divided in social groups
like families are some of the oldest questions asked in the social sciences, especially sociology. These are essential questions because how tasks are allotted relates to the social acceptance and involvement by participants. Answers to these questions must be
a core concern within family studies that focus on parenting.
In advanced societies, behavior in family positions is not self evident. Roles are
vague, and values are pluralistic. Social actors often have to negotiate with each other
as part of the process to determine what form their behavior will take. According to the
theory of individualization, negotiations in society occur on many different levels. Negotiations during interactions occur between intimate partners on a micro level as during interactions between friends and colleagues. All of these aspects are involved during
the transition of men becoming fathers. On a macro level, the negotiations occur between competing agencies and institutions dealing with both formal and informal family related policies, especially as they relate to the challenges of combining family and
work. Social networks matter, including those in neighborhoods, yet the results of interactions are hard to foresee in societies.
If men had no choices to make about how to be a father, negotiations would not
be necessary. But no one set of norms regarding how fathers should behave exists. Consequently, men have choices and this requires preparation and negotiations. Thus, it is
worthwhile to analyze how choices are made and what influences choices. Some of
the articles dealing with this issue focus on two very general aspects that frame the discussion on fatherhood: hegemonic masculinity and gender equality. If masculinity is
hegemonic as many scholars contend then involved and caring fathers would suggest
a dramatic change in masculine identity. An important question to ask is to what extent,
if at all, is a new approach to fatherhood possible under the domination of hegemonic
masculinity?
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Gender equality is the focus of much analysis dealing with the division of childcare and household tasks. The impact on fathers’ behavior of general strategies implemented in societies to increase gender equality needs to be assessed. Equal pay for
equal work for men and women and generally equal employment conditions are prerequisites to the possibility of fathers taking advantage of opportunities, like parental
leave, to be more involved with their children.
Almost all these issues are discussed in the articles to varying degrees. Some take
a more theoretical approach and others a more empirical one. Both quantitative and
qualitative methods were utilized. Some of the articles are comparative, as such, but the
whole issue tries to cover experiences from different countries worldwide. Kevin Roy
focuses on non-residential fathers in low income families. In this theoretical article,
Roy spells out how the central concepts of the life course perspective can help analyze
and better understand fathers in South Africa and the United States. Laura Merla applies
qualitative analysis to stay-at-home fathers in Belgium, dealing especially with the construction of fathers’ self-image. Merla compares her findings with results from similar
studies in Sweden, Australia, and the USA. She details how the norms men are confronted with influence the fatherhood strategies they adopt. Johanna Lamni-Taskula’s
quantitative study focuses on the division of labor in Finnish households. LamniTaskula found conflicting expectations, and that values held were an important influence on fathers’ leave patterns. Parental leave for fathers is broadly accepted and
considered the norm in Finland, though they do not take leave for a long period of time.
Peiko Yamato’s quantitative study deals with how Japanese fathers are sharing, or not
sharing, housework during economic recession. Japanese fathers are not very likely to
share domestic tasks but when they do contribute, it raises the satisfaction level of
mothers. Antonella Pinelli and Francesca Fiori concentrate on the influence of fathers
on fertility decisions, a central issue in Italy, which has one of the lowest fertility rates
in Europe. Although working and non-working women make rather the same fertility
decisions, the influence of fathers is different between these two groups. Fathers’ participation in childcare and domestic activities had the greatest impact on the intentions
of working women to have a second child. Anna-Lena Almqvist explains why taking
parental leave by fathers is much more likely in Sweden than in France. Sweden’s more
individualized regime, including better paid, and some mandatory months of parental
leave for each parent, appears to encourage Swedish couples to negotiate when and for
how long fathers will take leave. In contrast, French couples apparently fail to discuss
leave issues. It is our privilege to present these articles to you.
Jay Fagan, founding editor of Fathering, supported and supervised the preparation of this special issue. He considered it an opportunity to bring exposure to existing,
exciting international fathering research and to expand the reputation of the journal internationally. His advice and assistance throughout the process have been invaluable in
meeting the challenges of editing a special issue. We trust that this issue achieved some
of what Jay envisioned when we approached him about the project. We owe a great
deal of debt to him and many others too numerous to name, all of whom have helped
make the special issue possible. We must name, however, the many scholars who helped
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us review the multiple drafts of the manuscripts. They deserve special recognition for
helping improve the quality of all the articles herein. They are named in the acknowledgement section to express our thanks and gratitude.
We invite you to contribute to the globalization of research on fathering by joining the CFR (http://www.soz.univie.ac.at/rc06) and participating in the ISA’s XVII
World Congress of Sociology to be held on July 11-17, 2010 in Göteborg, Sweden
(http://www.isa-sociology.org/congress2010). The call for session organizers from CFR
will go out later this year and the call for papers in 2009.
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