Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to analyze how the issue of work-life balance looks like from the perspective of men in Poland and Sweden. I assume that the differences between men and women in experiencing conflicting obligations arising from family life and the labor market—so-called combination pressures—result from different attitudes of men and women to paid work, housework, and care work. Despite the changing gender roles men concentrate more on paid work and less overtly experience the combination pressures than women. This greater focus on paid work is connected to traditional parental roles and gender beliefs. Yet also the family policy system has an impact on how men experience combination pressures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bergman, H., and Hobson, B. (2002). “Compulsory Fatherhood: The Coding of Fatherhood in the Swedish Welfare State,” in B. Hobson (ed.), Making Men into Fathers Men, Masculinities, and the Social Politics of Fatherhood. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 92–124.
Coltrane, S. (2010). “Fathering: Paradoxes, Contradictions and Dilemmas,” in M. S. Kimmel and M. A. Messner (eds.), Men’s Lives, 8th edition. Boston, MA, and London: Pearson Education, pp. 432–449.
Doucet, A. (2004). “‘It’s Almost Like I Have a Job, but I Don’t Get Paid’: Fathers at Home Reconfiguring Work, Care, and Masculinity.” Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Men as Fathers, 2(3), 277–303.
Doucet, A., and Merla, L. (2007). “Stay-at-Home Fathering: A Strategy for Balancing Work and Home in Canadian and Belgian Families.” Community, Work & Family, 10(4), 455–473.
Dowd, N. E. (2000). Redefining Fatherhood. New York: New York University Press.
Dribe, M., and Stanfors, M. (2009). “Does Parenthood Strengthen a Traditional Household Division of Labor? Evidence from Sweden.” Journal ofMarriage and Family, 71(1), 33–45.
European Commission (2014). Tackling the Gender Pay Gap in the European Union. Luxembourg.
Fahlen, S. (2012). Facets of Work-Life Balance across Europe: How the Interplay of Institutional Contexts, Work Arrangements and Individual Resources Affect Capabilities for Having a Family and for Being Involved in Family Life. Stockholm University and Stockholm University Library, Stockholm.
Kuhhirt, M. (2012). “Childbirth and the Long-Term Division of Labour within Couples: How do Substitution, Bargaining Power, and Norms affect Parents’ Time Allocation in West Germany?” European Sociological Review, 28(5), 565–582.
Lamb, M. E. (2010). “How Do Fathers Influence Children’s Development? Let Me Count the Ways,” in M. E. Lamb (ed.), The Role of the Father in Child Development, 5th edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pp. 1–26.
Laurijssen, I., and Glorieux, I. (2013). “Career Trajectories for Women after Childbirth: Job Quality and Work-Family Balance.” European Sociological Review, 29(3), 426–436.
Lippe, T. van der, Jager, A., and Kops, Y. (2006). “Combination Pressure: The Paid Work: Family Balance of Men and Women in European Countries.” Acta Sociologica, 49(3), 303–319.
Lundqvist, A., and Roman, C. (2010). “The Institutionalization of Family and Gender Equality Policies in the Swedish Welfare State,” in J. Fink and A. Lundqvist (eds.), Changing Relations of Welfare: Family, Gender and Migration in Britain and Scandinavia. Farnham, Surrey, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub, pp. 65–85.
Miller, T. (2011). Making Sense of Fatherhood: Gender, Caring and Work. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Pleck, J. H. (2010). “Paternal Involvement. Revised Conceptualization and Theoretical Linkages with Child Outcomes,” in M. E. Lamb (ed.), The Role of the Father in Child Development, 5th edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pp. 58–93.
Roman, C. (2009). “Academic Discourse, Social Policy and the Construction of New Families,” in K. Melby, A.-B. Ravn, and C. C. Wetterberg (eds.), Gender Equality and Welfare Politics in Scandinavia: The Limits of Political Ambition? Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 101–116.
Rothbauer, P. M. (2008). “Triangulation,” in L. M. Given (ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 893–894.
Saxonberg, S. (2011). “Tensions in Family Policies in Post-Communist Central Europe,” in B. Pfau-Effinger and T. Rostgaard (eds.), Care between Work and Welfare in European Societies. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 52–78.
Saxonberg, S. (2013). “From Defamilialization to Degenderization: Toward a New Welfare Typology,” Social Policy & Administration, 47(1), 26–49.
Saxonberg, S., and Szelewa, D. (2007). “The Continuing Legacy of the Communist Legacy? The development of family policies in Poland and the Czech Republic,” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 14(3), 351–379.
Schober, P. S. (2013). “The Parenthood Effect on Gender Inequality: Explaining the Change in Paid and Domestic Work When British Couples Become Parents.” European Sociological Review, 29(1), 74–85.
Titkow, A., Duch-Krzystoszek, D., and Budrowska, B. (2004). Nieodpłatna praca kobiet: mity, realia, perspektywy. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo IFiS PAN.
Wattis, L., Standing, K., and Yerkes, M. A. (2013). “Mothers and Work-Life Balance: Exploring the Contradictions and Complexities Involved in Work-Family Negotiation.” Community, Work & Family, 16(1), 1–19.
Copyright information
© 2016 Katarzyna Suwada
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Suwada, K. (2016). “At the End, the Father Works More and the Mother Stays Home”: Polish and Swedish Fathers and (Un)achieved Work-Life Balance. In: Balancing Work and Family in a Changing Society. Global Masculinities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53354-8_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53354-8_13
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59527-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53354-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)