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Glimpses of change? UK fathers navigating work and care within the context of Shared Parental Leave

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  • Emma Banister
  • Ben Kerrane

Abstract

This study focuses on the lived experiences of 25 professionally employed UK fathers who are first‐wave beneficiaries of Shared Parental Leave (SPL), which facilitated a period of leave from work during their child's first year. Using exploratory qualitative interviews, we investigate the ways in which family relations, organizational initiatives, and public policy collaborate to disrupt or transform what have hitherto been traditional gendered expectations around early infant care. Our understanding is framed using Giddens' democratic family and notions of “undoing gender”. Our longitudinal design allows us to capture fathers' lived experiences at two points, firstly pre/during their period of SPL and secondly following their return to work. In seeking glimpses of change, we first explore this at the level of men's disruption of generational biographies, then how fathers navigate SPL policy within a contested gendered context, and finally their subsequent transformations in work/care practices. We discuss the implications for policy, recognizing shortcomings in the current design of UK leave offerings.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Banister & Ben Kerrane, 2024. "Glimpses of change? UK fathers navigating work and care within the context of Shared Parental Leave," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1214-1229, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:31:y:2024:i:4:p:1214-1229
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12813
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    1. Hege Eggen Børve & Brita Bungum, 2015. "Norwegian Working Fathers in Global Working Life," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 309-323, July.
    2. Tina Miller, 2013. "Shifting out of neutral on parental leave: Making fathers' involvement explicit," Public Policy Review, Institute for Public Policy Research, vol. 19(4), pages 258-262, January.
    3. Robyn Lee, 2018. "Breastfeeding Bodies: Intimacies at Work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 77-90, January.
    4. Erin Reid, 2015. "Embracing, Passing, Revealing, and the Ideal Worker Image: How People Navigate Expected and Experienced Professional Identities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 997-1017, August.
    5. Emilia Kangas & Anna‐Maija Lämsä & Marjut Jyrkinen, 2019. "Is fatherhood allowed? Media discourses of fatherhood in organizational life," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(10), pages 1433-1450, October.
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