scholarly journals Negotiating parenting practices: the arguments and justifications of Finnish couples

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petteri Eerola ◽  
Johanna Närvi ◽  
Johanna Terävä ◽  
Katja Repo
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Cultural Discourses ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Equal Parenting

This article explores Finnish different-sex couples’ (n = 12) negotiations on their parental division of labour. Theoretically, the article is based on the literature on gendered parenting practices and relational negotiations. Our discourse analysis reveals how the couples produced ‘togetherness’ and ‘our family’ by representing their care practices as agreements, irrespective of whether the care was described as equally shared or distinctly gendered. Disagreements reflecting more individualistic tones, and mainly resulting from the mothers’ sense of unfairness, were especially foregrounded when the distribution of household duties was discussed. The analysis also revealed how men cited involved fatherhood as a justification for their lesser responsibility for housework, while women sought to reconcile the contradictory discourses of equal parenting and mother’s primacy. Our results show how personal wishes and preferences, work life, family policies and cultural discourses are reflected in couples’ negotiations on parenting practices and moral identities pertaining to ‘good’ motherhood and fatherhood.

scholarly journals Why Not "Crying It Out" Part 2: Can Certain Infant Care Practices Cause Excessive Stress?

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-65
Author(s):  
Patrice Marie Miller ◽  
Michael Lamport Commons
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Infant Care ◽  
Early Care ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Responsive Environments ◽  
Excessive Stress

Understanding the importance of responsiveness is an essential foundation for communicating with parents about early care. Helping parents create healthy, responsive environments may benefit from looking at some common parenting practices and how they may impact infants’ development. The role of stress experiences is an essential consideration when choosing care. What practices may be more risky for infants and which may be more protective is the focus of Part 2.

The Work–Life Balance from the Perspective of Economic Policy Actors

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ackers
Keyword(s):  
Service Sector ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Female Labour ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
Traditional Work

This article reviews the burgeoning literature on work–life balance and family-friendly policies in European countries, noting the new interdisciplinary dialogue between traditional ‘work’ and ‘family’ disciplines. It examines the findings from interviews with economic actors, suggesting that, while work–life balance and family-friendly policies are an issue everywhere, progress is very uneven. Overall, strong traditional family policies have not contributed to work–life balance, since they are predicated on a traditional male breadwinner model. A combination of strong demand for female labour in the service sector and equal opportunities policies is, however, causing employers and government to address the issue.

scholarly journals Infant Care Practices among Resettled Refugee Mothers from East and Central Africa

Children ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren R. Bader ◽  
Jennifer Ward ◽  
Hillary N. Fouts ◽  
Julia Jaekel
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Infant Care ◽  
The Body ◽  
African Origin ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Agencies ◽  
Formal Employment ◽  
Care Practices

Refugees often parent under extreme circumstances. Parenting practices have implications for child outcomes, and parenting in the context of refugee resettlement is likely to be dynamic as parents negotiate a new culture. This study examined African origin mothers’ infant care values and practices related to feeding, carrying, and daily activities following resettlement in the Southeastern region of the U.S. Ten African origin mothers were asked about their infant care practices through semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that mothers valued breastfeeding but often chose to use formula as a supplement or instead of breastfeeding. In addition, participants valued carrying their infants close to the body but used equipment such as strollers. Mothers expressed that perceptions of American culture and rules, social support, interactions with community agencies, and the need to engage in formal employment were factors that influenced their infant care practices.

scholarly journals Flexible Working, Work–Life Balance, and Gender Equality: Introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 151 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heejung Chung ◽  
Tanja van der Lippe
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Family Outcomes ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
The Us

AbstractThis special brings together innovative and multidisciplinary research (sociology, economics, and social work) using data from across Europe and the US to examine the potential flexible working has on the gender division of labour and workers’ work–life balance. Despite numerous studies on the gendered outcomes of flexible working, it is limited in that the majority is based on qualitative studies based in the US. The papers of this special issue overcome some of the limitations by examining the importance of context, namely, family, organisational and country context, examining the intersection between gender and class, and finally examining the outcomes for different types of flexible working arrangements. The introduction to this special issue provides a review of the existing literature on the gendered outcomes of flexible working on work life balance and other work and family outcomes, before presenting the key findings of the articles of this special issue. The results of the studies show that gender matters in understanding the outcomes of flexible working, but also it matters differently in different contexts. The introduction further provides policy implications drawn from the conclusions of the studies and some thoughts for future studies to consider.

scholarly journals “Doing Men’s Jobs”: A Commentary on Work–Life Balance Issues Among Women in Engineering and Technology

Metamorphosis ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-75
Author(s):  
Sucharita Maji
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Women In Engineering ◽  
Engineering And Technology ◽  
The Family ◽  
Work Family

Despite a steep increase in female representation in the workforce in the last decade, the gendered division of labour in the family remains broadly unaltered. Women, even who work for the same duration as their husbands in the office and contribute equally or more to the financial status of the family, often take most of the shares of childcare responsibility and domestic work. Work–family conflict is a global problem for working men and women; the struggle is even more prominent among working women, especially those who work in male-dominated sectors such as engineering and technology. Working in gender-atypical professions, females in engineering and technology face solo status and experience perceived discrimination and social identity threat. They require to put additional efforts to adjust to the work environment which, in turn, impacts their work–life balance status. The gendered work culture in engineering and technology sectors is reported to be masculine and patrifocal as a result of the skewed sex-ratio. Moreover, the study attempted to find out how the gender-role perception and identification of them, gender stigma consciousness, and role conflict may further aggravate the work–family conflicts among women engineers. In addition, the added responsibilities and conflicts that come with motherhood and their impacts on the work–life balance are discussed.

scholarly journals Maternal Work–Life Balance and Children’s Social Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and Parenting Practices

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 6924
Author(s):  
Rikuya Hosokawa ◽  
Toshiki Katsura
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Children’S Mental Health ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Children's Mental Health ◽  
Life Balance

The participation of women with young children in the Japanese labor force has increased dramatically in recent years, bringing growing potential for conflict between work and family roles amid inadequate social systems, such as childcare support. Thus, work–life balance (WLB) of mothers may influence their children’s mental health and lifestyle. This study aims to clarify the relationship between parents’ WLB and children’s mental health, as well as the underlying factors of parental stress and nurturing attitude. The study is based on a questionnaire survey administered in 2019 to fifth-grade elementary school students and their caregivers in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The regression results indicated that the higher the work–family negative spillover, the higher the child’s externalizing and internalizing problems, and the higher the positive spillover, the lower the problems and the higher the prosocial behaviors. Path analysis indicates that maternal WLB is negatively and positively related to children’s behavior through maternal stress and parenting practices. The study suggests that maternal WLB is related to children’s emotional and behavioral problems. WLB may impact children’s emotional and behavioral problems through parents’ mental health and involvement with their children, particularly because of work arrangements changing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of National Policy on Work–Family Experiences

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laure den Dulk ◽  
Bram Peper
Keyword(s):  
Time Pressure ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Family Policies ◽  
Working Parents ◽  
Family Outcomes ◽  
Work Family ◽  
The Impact

Work–life scholars emphasize the need for cross-national studies in order to understand the variety of ways in which people experience the work–life interface across the world. Within this chapter an overview is given of national work–family policies present in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and the changes in policy that occurred across time. This is followed by a review of research that examines the impact of national policies on work–family outcomes. Research on this topic is increasing but scarce. Research to date suggests that policies are beneficial for the general contentment of working parents with the way they are able to combine work and family life, but are less effective in reducing experienced work–family conflict or time pressure.

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