Helen Norman
My main research interests focus on fathers and fatherhood, the gendered division of labour and gender inequalities in work and family life. My PhD ‘Involved fatherhood: an analysis of the conditions associated with paternal involvement in childcare and housework’ (2011) examined what influences paternal involvement in childcare and housework nine months and three years after the child’s birth using cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses on the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study. I was recently awarded funding from the ESRC's Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (2016-17) to develop this research in order to establish what influences paternal involvement in childcare as children age from nine months to eleven years old (see http://bit.ly/1owKIno). I am also interested in work and employment, and particularly how social policy, institutional practices, attitudes and workplace culture impacts on the work-family reconciliation (and working-time) of both men and women.
My research has been funded by the ESRC (doctoral studentship with quantitative stipend), the European Commission - in my role as a member of the European Commission European Network of Experts on Gender Equality (ENEGE) (see http://www.enege.eu/), - and the United Nation’s International Labour Office – as part of a team researching barriers to quality part-time employment (http://bit.ly/1Vf1BMd).
My publications address men and gender equality in family roles and social care jobs; paternal involvement in childcare; mothers’ employment patterns following childbirth; the benefits and limitations of part-time employment; flexible working; working time; and reconciliation policies to support childcare and eldercare in the UK and across Europe.
I have also co-authored a blog and written a briefing paper on childcare (see http://bit.ly/1LaJlnG) and recently took part in a panel debate with the former shadow Minister for Childcare and Children – Lucy Powell – to discuss the role that childcare plays in promoting local growth. This was organised jointly by Policy@manchester and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North.
For further information see: http://staffprofiles.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/Profile.aspx?Id=Helen.Norman&curTab=1
For further information about my policy engagement and knowledge exchange activities see:
http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/research/research-impact/international-employment-policies/
Phone: 0161 3066935
Address: Sociology, 3rd floor, Arthur Lewis building
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
My research has been funded by the ESRC (doctoral studentship with quantitative stipend), the European Commission - in my role as a member of the European Commission European Network of Experts on Gender Equality (ENEGE) (see http://www.enege.eu/), - and the United Nation’s International Labour Office – as part of a team researching barriers to quality part-time employment (http://bit.ly/1Vf1BMd).
My publications address men and gender equality in family roles and social care jobs; paternal involvement in childcare; mothers’ employment patterns following childbirth; the benefits and limitations of part-time employment; flexible working; working time; and reconciliation policies to support childcare and eldercare in the UK and across Europe.
I have also co-authored a blog and written a briefing paper on childcare (see http://bit.ly/1LaJlnG) and recently took part in a panel debate with the former shadow Minister for Childcare and Children – Lucy Powell – to discuss the role that childcare plays in promoting local growth. This was organised jointly by Policy@manchester and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North.
For further information see: http://staffprofiles.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/Profile.aspx?Id=Helen.Norman&curTab=1
For further information about my policy engagement and knowledge exchange activities see:
http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/research/research-impact/international-employment-policies/
Phone: 0161 3066935
Address: Sociology, 3rd floor, Arthur Lewis building
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
less
InterestsView All (18)
Uploads
Papers by Helen Norman
BLOG AVAILABLE FROM http://blog.policy.manchester.ac.uk/growth_inclusion/2019/11/does-fathers-involvement-in-childcare-influence-mothers-employment-post-childbirth/
bold for change’, here Dr Nina Teasdale, Professor Colette Fagan and Dr
Helen Norman take stock of the UK’s gender-related policy measures in this blog post for Policy@Manchester
Design/Methodology/Approach: Longitudinal data from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study is analysed using logistic regression.
Findings: Mothers are more likely to be employed, and employed full-time, when their child is aged three if they were employed during the pregnancy and resumed employment within nine months of the birth. The mothers’ occupational class, ethnicity, household composition and the working hours of a partner also have independent associations with the probability of maternal employment once the child is aged three.
Research limitations/implications: We would expect these results to be modified – but not overturned – in a different national setting, for example where childcare services are more extensive or part-time employment is less common.
Originality/value: These new longitudinal survey results for a recent cohort of mothers in the UK demonstrate that resumption of employment following maternity leave is pivotal for women’s subsequent employment integration. Yet maternal employment trajectories remain shaped by social inequalities. Both results are important for informing debates about reconciliation policy for the pre-school years, including monitoring the impact of the recession on the employment integration of women following childbirth.
Two sweeps of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) are used to explore some of the conditions under which fathers become more actively involved in childcare and housework when cohort children are aged nine months and three years old. This question is examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally within the context of a two-parent, heterosexual household in Britain. Three data classification techniques are used to derive two latent measures that represent two dimensions of paternal involvement (engagement and responsibility). Multiple regression is used to model involvement at aged nine months; logistic regression is used to model what type of caregiver a father is when the child is aged three.
The main findings are:
- Patterns of maternal and paternal employment have the strongest association with paternal involvement at both time points.
- When children are aged nine months, the hours that a mother works appear to have a stronger association with paternal involvement than fathers’ own work hours (although this is still important).
- The likelihood of a father being involved with his three year old also increases dramatically the longer the hours the mother spends in paid work.
- Fathers’ own work hours have a slightly stronger association with whether they take on a primary caregiving role at age three.
- There are considerable variations in involvement when the child is aged nine months by ethnicity as involvement is lower for fathers with an Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi background. Responsibility for housework, however, is slightly higher for black/black British fathers.
- Various demographics also have a small association with involved fathering at age three. For example, fathers are more likely to be involved when their child is a boy, when there are no other children in the household and when they took leave following their child’s birth.
The thesis exposes some of the employment and demographic conditions associated with greater paternal involvement with young children. In doing so it also brings to light some of the barriers to greater gender equity in the division of domestic labour (childcare and housework). The findings emphasise the importance of employment hours with long work hours hindering involvement and mothers’ participation in the labour market encouraging it. The thesis provides a foundation from which to develop further analyses so that a better understanding of the variations in paternal involvement can be achieved.
BLOG AVAILABLE FROM http://blog.policy.manchester.ac.uk/growth_inclusion/2019/11/does-fathers-involvement-in-childcare-influence-mothers-employment-post-childbirth/
bold for change’, here Dr Nina Teasdale, Professor Colette Fagan and Dr
Helen Norman take stock of the UK’s gender-related policy measures in this blog post for Policy@Manchester
Design/Methodology/Approach: Longitudinal data from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study is analysed using logistic regression.
Findings: Mothers are more likely to be employed, and employed full-time, when their child is aged three if they were employed during the pregnancy and resumed employment within nine months of the birth. The mothers’ occupational class, ethnicity, household composition and the working hours of a partner also have independent associations with the probability of maternal employment once the child is aged three.
Research limitations/implications: We would expect these results to be modified – but not overturned – in a different national setting, for example where childcare services are more extensive or part-time employment is less common.
Originality/value: These new longitudinal survey results for a recent cohort of mothers in the UK demonstrate that resumption of employment following maternity leave is pivotal for women’s subsequent employment integration. Yet maternal employment trajectories remain shaped by social inequalities. Both results are important for informing debates about reconciliation policy for the pre-school years, including monitoring the impact of the recession on the employment integration of women following childbirth.
Two sweeps of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) are used to explore some of the conditions under which fathers become more actively involved in childcare and housework when cohort children are aged nine months and three years old. This question is examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally within the context of a two-parent, heterosexual household in Britain. Three data classification techniques are used to derive two latent measures that represent two dimensions of paternal involvement (engagement and responsibility). Multiple regression is used to model involvement at aged nine months; logistic regression is used to model what type of caregiver a father is when the child is aged three.
The main findings are:
- Patterns of maternal and paternal employment have the strongest association with paternal involvement at both time points.
- When children are aged nine months, the hours that a mother works appear to have a stronger association with paternal involvement than fathers’ own work hours (although this is still important).
- The likelihood of a father being involved with his three year old also increases dramatically the longer the hours the mother spends in paid work.
- Fathers’ own work hours have a slightly stronger association with whether they take on a primary caregiving role at age three.
- There are considerable variations in involvement when the child is aged nine months by ethnicity as involvement is lower for fathers with an Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi background. Responsibility for housework, however, is slightly higher for black/black British fathers.
- Various demographics also have a small association with involved fathering at age three. For example, fathers are more likely to be involved when their child is a boy, when there are no other children in the household and when they took leave following their child’s birth.
The thesis exposes some of the employment and demographic conditions associated with greater paternal involvement with young children. In doing so it also brings to light some of the barriers to greater gender equity in the division of domestic labour (childcare and housework). The findings emphasise the importance of employment hours with long work hours hindering involvement and mothers’ participation in the labour market encouraging it. The thesis provides a foundation from which to develop further analyses so that a better understanding of the variations in paternal involvement can be achieved.
This chapter examines fathers’ involvement in the domestic tasks of caring for their pre-school children in the UK. The paternal involvement of direct engagement in childcare tasks is distinct from economic provision for the child’s wellbeing via employment (Dermott 2003; also see Norman 2015). We focus on the effect of the fathers’ and mothers’ employment hours on paternal involvement in childcare, and whether the way that parents’ organise their work and childcare arrangements in the first year of the child’s life influences paternal involvement as the child grows up.