A Qualitative Research on the Work-Family-Life Balance Perception of Working Fathers

Work-life and work-family-life balance can be expressed as the balance between the demands of an individual's work life and private life, and the demands of work life and family life. The issue of ensuring the harmony between work-family and work-life is taken into consideration by researchers, and studies on this subject are gaining momentum day by day. As in many countries around the world, family-friendly organization practices are taking place in Turkey to address this situation, and many social policies are implemented in order to harmonize the areas of work-life and work-family life. However, although studies on working women are included in detail, studies related with working fathers are very rare. In the study, the concepts of work-life balance and work-family-life balance will be discussed in detail. In addition, the fact of being a working father for working fathers who tend to establish work-family-life balance, and the thoughts of working fathers about whether they can establish a work-family-life balance will be discussed within the scope of the interviews.

Factors Associated With Work-Life Balance of Working Fathers Involved in Small Business Enterprises: Evidence from Kathmandu Valley

Background: Work-life balance (WLB) can be considered as the systematic management of three important components like work-life conflict, work-life interference and work-life convergence. Objective: This study tries to examine the work-life balance of the working fathers involved in small business enterprises in Kathmandu valley. Method: Both descriptive and inferential analysis is used in the study which showed various results. The study adopted the descriptive approach. Respondents were sampled from working fathers in small business enterprises in Kathmandu valley. Non probability sampling technique was used to select 405 respondents. The questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive as well as inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Result: The study found that age, education level, business trainings and income level has positive significant relationship with work-life balance. The finding of this study shows that satisfaction and motivation towards working fathers is important factors for balancing the work-life and family life. Conclusion and Recommendation: The paper recommends that there should be inclusive climate in the workplace and policies supporting work-life balance should be forwarded.

French Fathers in Work Organizations: Navigating Work-Life Balance Challenges

This chapter aims at contributing to a better understanding of the challenges and tensions that French working fathers experience at work in trying to achieve work-life balance. Drawing on a sample of 20 fathers, aged 27–51, working in different work organizations, in-depth interviews were conducted to investigate how these fathers navigate tensions between the simultaneous pressure for having a successful career and for embodying an involved fatherhood. The findings show that the fathers’ perceptions and expectations towards work-life balance are different from women, fathers often associating their needs for work-life balance with occasional and informal flexibility and not always viewing the organization as a source of solutions. Heterogeneously influenced by their cultural ideals of work and fatherhood, they expect now more proactivity, recognition and support on the part of their organization and supervisor to fully carry out their fatherhood. A typology of three profiles with different ways of combining fatherhood and work is derived: the ‘breadwinner’ father, the ‘caring father’ and the ‘want to have it all’ father. These categories are further developed highlighting the practices and strategies French fathers mobilize to solve their work-life equation.

Leisure time sports and exercise activities during the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey of working parents

Many working parents experienced a double burden of fulltime employment and increased childcare obligations during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic. This paper explores how this twofold burden affected leisure time sports and exercise (LTSE). Following a gender inequality perspective, it is assumed that the level of LTSE of working mothers are more negatively affected by the pandemic than LTSE levels of working fathers. Using the nation-wide representative SPOVID survey, the paper analyses data of all respondents in fulltime employment (N = 631). Data collection took place in October and November 2020 in collaboration with Forsa, a leading corporation for public opinion polls in Germany. Results show that the pandemic led to a reduction of LTSE levels, but with considerable variation between working mothers and fathers. Fulltime working mothers reduced their LTSE by a substantial margin (54 min per week), but not working fathers. It is concluded that the double burden of work demands and childcare duties in the pandemic was largely shouldered by mothers, who then faced greater difficulties to remain active.

Men’s and women’s changing attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers in Australia

Since the Second World War there have been significant changes in the gender systems of industrialised countries, largely driven by increased female labour force participation. Changes in men’s domestic participation have been comparatively incremental, and researchers contend the gender revolution will only be complete when men’s and women’s commitments are matched. Prior research on attitudes about gender roles has concentrated on women, but in this research, the focus is on men. Using growth curve analyses of Australian longitudinal data ( N = 24,397), this article examines attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers and how they changed between 2001 and 2015. Workforce status, relationship status and parenthood are strong predictors of different attitudinal outcomes and change for men and women, indicating that views were influenced by interest and exposure in ways that differed by gender. Further, the authors find attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers have changed over the last 15 years, particularly amongst working fathers and mothers, which have become more supportive of greater father involvement in the care of children and the ability of working fathers to meet the needs of their children.

Unmasking work-family balance barriers and strategies among working fathers in the workplace

This article explores the barriers and strategies experienced by Spanish working fathers regarding work-family balance. Based on 29 in-depth interviews with Spanish working fathers in different types of organizations and sectors, the results of this study present different barriers that are divided into three groups: contextual barriers, organizational barriers and internalized barriers. The results also suggest that the study’s participants fall into three categories or patterns: hegemonic gender order conformers, borderers and deviants, who use three different strategies (no strategies, invisible strategies and visible strategies) to overcome the barriers detected in this research. The dynamics of reinforcing, being complicit and challenging hegemonic masculinities within the workplace are discussed in light of recent theories regarding gender and organizations, masculinities and fatherhood.