To further my
research and advocacy for Gender Equality I took a look at two peer-reviewed
articles. These articles were about husbands and fathers and the role they play
in Gender Equality in their household and relationships. Both articles were written
in Scandinavian countries and observations and interviews were conducted with Scandinavian
couples.
The first
article I read was “How men became the local agents of change towards genderequality.” This was a peer-review
article on a follow up study of a study done in the 1970’s. The original study
was done in Norway featuring 16 middle class couples. The study was carried out between 69 and 75. “The
original project was an action research project to promote gender equality in
families, and was based on both spouses
working part-time and sharing childcare and household work.” (Bjornholt, 4)
For this study
the men and women had to agree to take a part-time job. They either had
different part-time jobs at the same company or they shared the same job
equally. This gave the participants work time and leisure time.
Over the 6 year
span study the couple had their lives documented. The findings of the original
study were aired in a T.V. program. This was done to try and make others aware
of and promote the “Male-Feminist.” This was said to be a trend after the women’s
movement.
The original
study found;
·
A work/family arrangement corresponded to the
sharing of domestic work and childcare
·
Couples reported higher levels of gender
equality
·
Couples reported higher levels of sexual
relations
·
Couples had less stress and more power relations
·
Childcare was more equally shared that housework
·
House work was still gendered.
For the follow
up study conducted in 2011, 14 of the original couples were interviewed. 11 of
the couples were still married and the divorced couples were interviewed
separately from the others. The follow
up study looked into why these men were able to live non-traditional lives
(traditional meaning; the man spends little time at home and on household responsibilities
while the woman stay at home to take care of the household responsibilities.)
Their
interviews focused on the following areas;
·
Perspectives on childhood loss
·
Perspectives on strong, working mothers
·
Perspectives on domestic skills
·
Perspectives on self-confidence and caring
·
Perspectives on fostering wives’ personal and
professional growth
·
Perspectives on relationships with children as a
motivational factor
·
Perspectives on leisure as a motivational factor
They found
from their interviews was that these husbands were influenced but childhood
loss and powerful mothers. Some of the men had to take over more feminine roles
as children which influenced how they acted in the future. This changed their
perceptions on domestic skills and work. Self-confidence and caring was shown
through the husband initiative to get him and his spouse involved in the study.
They concluded that these actions showed caring because they had the best
interest of their wives and they were confident enough in their self to take
that step and make the decision for the both of them. This caring also crossed
over with their want for their wives to grow professionally. The follow up
study revealed that fathers wanted to be just as involved in their child’s life
as a mother. This was due to several factors but one of them accounted for by
one of the participants was because that “it was sad about fathers who just
fell into the role and did not have as strong contact with their children as
the mothers.” (Bjornholt, 13) It was also found that increased leisure was a
separate motivation of most men.
The second
article I read was, “Changes in gender equality? Swedish fathers’ parental leave, division of childcare and housework.” This article featured a 2014 study
done on the parental leave of fathers in Sweden. In Sweden men are given several months of “non-transferable”
parental leave after a child is born (Almqvist and Duvander, 1-2).
Today men are
given 16 months of parental leave and 9 out of 10 fathers will use a portion of
their leave. Based on the previous research fathers that use their leave are usually
“employed in the public sector, in female dominated work places.” (Almqvist and
Duvander, 2) They found that those fathers who use parental leave will have a
stronger father-child relationship.
For
the study they compared fathers who used 2 months or less of leave and those
who used more than 2 months. What they found was that those fathers that took a
long leave were more likely to;
·
Stay at home with a sick child
·
To be in touch with the school or daycare
·
Take children to leisure activities
·
Put the children to bed
·
Buy and mend children’s clothes
What also
influenced these findings were the previous beliefs of the husband and wife in
child rearing. In conclusion those fathers who believed in sharing duties before
having a child were more likely to do so. It also found that those fathers who
take longer parental leave will be more likely to believe in gender equality in
housework and child rearing.
It was
interesting to compare these two articles because they are very different
studies but they showed the same findings. They were different because both had
a different topic in which they were researching. They also used different
methods. What they found to be the same is that fathers want to be involved and
that there is a new wave of men who want participate in gender equality within
child rearing and domestic work.
I also found it
interesting that both of these studies were done in Scandinavian countries. I
would like to do more research to see if there have been similar studies done
in other regions of the world and how results change according to those being
evaluated.
Now I would like to hear what your thoughts are on the article! Comment below with how you thought the two were similar or dissimilar and how you would think these studies would turn out if they were conducted in America.
XOXO Kourtney
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