Both research and policy on balancing work and family life have tended to focus on mothers' lives. There has been a general lack of comparative research to the complex intersection between old and new forms of masculinity; and between fatherhood, work-life balance, gender relations and children's well-being. As a result, men's fathering roles and their struggle with work-life balance have often been neglected. These cultural challenges should be better theorized within family and social policy research. This volume examines how fathers fulfill their roles both within the family and at work and what institutional support could be of most benefit to them in combining these roles.

Autorentext

Isabella Crespi is Associate Professor in Cultural sociology at the University of Macerata, Italy.

Elisabetta Ruspini is Senior Associate Professor in Sociology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

Inhalt

PART I: FATHERHOOD AND MEN'S WORK-LIFE BALANCE. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ACROSS CONTINENTS 1. Changing Fatherhood and Fathering across Cultures towards Convergence in Work-Family Balance: Divergent Progress or Stalemate?; Michael Rush and Rudy Seward 2. 'The Choice was Made for Us': A Genealogical and Relational Approach to the Stay-at-Home Father Concept in North America; Andrea Doucet 3. Cultural Values, Family Policies and Fathering Practices in Central-eastern Europe; Piotr Teisseyre PART II: CHANGING FATHERS: WORK, CHILDREN AND RECONCILIATION STRATEGIES 4. Changing Family Models: Emerging New Opportunities for Fathers in Catalonia (Spain)?; Lluis Flaquer, Almudena Moreno Minguez and Tomas Cano 5. What makes Fathers Involved? An Exploration of the Longitudinal Influence of Fathers' and Mothers' Employment on Father's Involvement in Looking After their Pre-School Children in the UK; Colette Fagan and Helen Norman 6. Reconciling Work and Family among Japanese Fathers with Preschool-aged Children; Tomoko Matsuda, Saori Kamano, Mieko Takahashi, Setsuko Onode, Kyoko Yoshizumi 7. Work-life Balance and Fathers in Austria? Empirical Evidence at the Company Level; Nadja Bergmann and Helene Schiffbänker 8. Between Change and Continuity. Fathers and Work-Life Balance in Italy; Maria Letizia Bosoni, Isabella Crespi and Elisabetta Ruspini PART III: FATHERS' WORK-FAMILY LIFE BALANCE: CONFLICTS AND CHALLENGES 9. Involved Fatherhood: Source of New Gender Conflicts?; Diana Lengersdorf and Michael Meuser 10. From 'Absent-from-Home Father' to 'Committed Father': Changes in the Model of Fatherhood in Poland and Role of Mothers-'Gatekeepers'; Ma?gorzata Sikorska 11. What Work-Family Conflicts do Fathers Experience in Sweden and the US?; Anna-Lena Almqvist and Gayle Kaufman 12. 'At the End, the Father Works More and the Mother Stays Home' - Swedish and Polish Fathers and (Un)Achieved Work-Life Balance; Katarzyna Suwada