This article focuses on transition to first-time motherhood and explores the experiences ofa grou... more This article focuses on transition to first-time motherhood and explores the experiences ofa group of women as they anticipate, give birth, and engage in early mothering. It illumi-nates how these women draw on, weave together, and challenge dominant strands of dis-course that circumscribe their journeys into motherhood. Using qualitative longitudinaldata, prenatal and postnatal episodes of transition are explored. The analysis and juxta-posing of these data reveal the different ways women anticipate and gradually make senseof becoming mothers. While there is a disjuncture between expectations and experiencesfor these new mothers, this article draws attention to the different ways women discur-sively position themselves through transition. It reveals how birth experiences can act asa discursive turning point and underscores the obduracy of some strands of dominant dis-course. These findings contribute to a subtler and more nuanced understanding of thedynamic interplay between person...
This article provides an overview of the contemporary Western context in which men become fathers... more This article provides an overview of the contemporary Western context in which men become fathers and ideals of fatherhood are constructed. The parameters of fatherhood are much less clearly drawn than those associated with motherhood, but both are shaped by gendered "choices" and constraints which operate across the home and work spheres. The article examines European policy changes which have helped to shape societal ideas and ideals about fatherhood (and motherhood) responsibilities as well as tracing the changes in the focus of research agendas in relation to men’s lives as fathers and constructions of caring responsibilities. An overview of the theoretical and methodological tools used to explore how paternal involvement is anticipated, practised and narrated amongst a group of UK men becoming fathers for the first time is also provided.
This commentary is written to mark 10 years of comprehensive maternal scholarship undertaken acro... more This commentary is written to mark 10 years of comprehensive maternal scholarship undertaken across the Journal. In this piece I return to reflect on the gap between women’s anticipations of labour and birth and their experiences, as births appear to be becoming more interventionist. This leads me to invite a debate about why this might be and whether it matters?
Increasingly in international research and popular media a growing interest in men and fatherhood... more Increasingly in international research and popular media a growing interest in men and fatherhood is discernible. These changes occur as other aspects of the socio-economic world shift, necessitating the need to re-address how caring and paid work responsibilities are configured and practised. However, interest in men’s experiences as fathers has emerged in ways which reflect cultural assumptions and practices associated with dominant understandings of masculinities. Consequently, research on and evidence of changing behaviours has been culturally and geographically uneven. In this paper, two qualitative studies are drawn upon to examine how men living in Australia and the UK engage in/narrate experiences of preparation for first-time fatherhood. These studies compare men’s in-depth accounts of preparing for first-time fatherhood in cultures where understandings of masculinities overlap, but where differences are also discernible. The findings illuminate the ways in which biology, g...
This article explores men’s articulations and practices of gender through transition to first-tim... more This article explores men’s articulations and practices of gender through transition to first-time fatherhood. Using qualitative longitudinal data, men’s antenatal intentions and postnatal practices are explored in this study which replicates earlier research on motherhood. The contemporary context in the UK is one where paternity leave, discourses of caring masculinities and more public displays of fathering involvement appear to offer new possibilities for men. But data analysis shows that whilst opportunities to disrupt gender norms are initially imagined, longer term practices can confirm ‘patriarchal habits’. The findings illuminate gender being done and undone, at times simultaneously, as the exhaustion and hard work of new parenting is encountered. A retreat into normative behaviours can be a path of least resistance as experiences unfold in an arena where men are found to have available to them a wider repertoire of discursive storylines. Optimistically, some changes in fath...
The ‘involved’ father, who is emotionally and economically engaged, has become a recognisable ide... more The ‘involved’ father, who is emotionally and economically engaged, has become a recognisable ideal in many Western societies. Policy changes have to varying degrees endorsed practices of involvement especially around the time of birth and during the early weeks and months of a child’s life. Discursive changes are discernible too as men engage a language of caring, bonding and emotional, intimate connection through ‘being there’ as a father. And research on the everyday practices of fathers also indicates some degree of change. But how far are these shifts indicative of a new type of fatherhood? In this article we document key research findings, assess their significance and most importantly assess what is the cumulative effect of these changes. We conclude that while contemporary practices of fathering must be understood and explained within broader cultural and economic milieu, the multiplicity of shifts does indeed infer a new durability.
This article focuses on transition to first-time motherhood and explores the experiences ofa grou... more This article focuses on transition to first-time motherhood and explores the experiences ofa group of women as they anticipate, give birth, and engage in early mothering. It illumi-nates how these women draw on, weave together, and challenge dominant strands of dis-course that circumscribe their journeys into motherhood. Using qualitative longitudinaldata, prenatal and postnatal episodes of transition are explored. The analysis and juxta-posing of these data reveal the different ways women anticipate and gradually make senseof becoming mothers. While there is a disjuncture between expectations and experiencesfor these new mothers, this article draws attention to the different ways women discur-sively position themselves through transition. It reveals how birth experiences can act asa discursive turning point and underscores the obduracy of some strands of dominant dis-course. These findings contribute to a subtler and more nuanced understanding of thedynamic interplay between person...
This article provides an overview of the contemporary Western context in which men become fathers... more This article provides an overview of the contemporary Western context in which men become fathers and ideals of fatherhood are constructed. The parameters of fatherhood are much less clearly drawn than those associated with motherhood, but both are shaped by gendered "choices" and constraints which operate across the home and work spheres. The article examines European policy changes which have helped to shape societal ideas and ideals about fatherhood (and motherhood) responsibilities as well as tracing the changes in the focus of research agendas in relation to men’s lives as fathers and constructions of caring responsibilities. An overview of the theoretical and methodological tools used to explore how paternal involvement is anticipated, practised and narrated amongst a group of UK men becoming fathers for the first time is also provided.
This commentary is written to mark 10 years of comprehensive maternal scholarship undertaken acro... more This commentary is written to mark 10 years of comprehensive maternal scholarship undertaken across the Journal. In this piece I return to reflect on the gap between women’s anticipations of labour and birth and their experiences, as births appear to be becoming more interventionist. This leads me to invite a debate about why this might be and whether it matters?
Increasingly in international research and popular media a growing interest in men and fatherhood... more Increasingly in international research and popular media a growing interest in men and fatherhood is discernible. These changes occur as other aspects of the socio-economic world shift, necessitating the need to re-address how caring and paid work responsibilities are configured and practised. However, interest in men’s experiences as fathers has emerged in ways which reflect cultural assumptions and practices associated with dominant understandings of masculinities. Consequently, research on and evidence of changing behaviours has been culturally and geographically uneven. In this paper, two qualitative studies are drawn upon to examine how men living in Australia and the UK engage in/narrate experiences of preparation for first-time fatherhood. These studies compare men’s in-depth accounts of preparing for first-time fatherhood in cultures where understandings of masculinities overlap, but where differences are also discernible. The findings illuminate the ways in which biology, g...
This article explores men’s articulations and practices of gender through transition to first-tim... more This article explores men’s articulations and practices of gender through transition to first-time fatherhood. Using qualitative longitudinal data, men’s antenatal intentions and postnatal practices are explored in this study which replicates earlier research on motherhood. The contemporary context in the UK is one where paternity leave, discourses of caring masculinities and more public displays of fathering involvement appear to offer new possibilities for men. But data analysis shows that whilst opportunities to disrupt gender norms are initially imagined, longer term practices can confirm ‘patriarchal habits’. The findings illuminate gender being done and undone, at times simultaneously, as the exhaustion and hard work of new parenting is encountered. A retreat into normative behaviours can be a path of least resistance as experiences unfold in an arena where men are found to have available to them a wider repertoire of discursive storylines. Optimistically, some changes in fath...
The ‘involved’ father, who is emotionally and economically engaged, has become a recognisable ide... more The ‘involved’ father, who is emotionally and economically engaged, has become a recognisable ideal in many Western societies. Policy changes have to varying degrees endorsed practices of involvement especially around the time of birth and during the early weeks and months of a child’s life. Discursive changes are discernible too as men engage a language of caring, bonding and emotional, intimate connection through ‘being there’ as a father. And research on the everyday practices of fathers also indicates some degree of change. But how far are these shifts indicative of a new type of fatherhood? In this article we document key research findings, assess their significance and most importantly assess what is the cumulative effect of these changes. We conclude that while contemporary practices of fathering must be understood and explained within broader cultural and economic milieu, the multiplicity of shifts does indeed infer a new durability.
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