Fatherhood in the Nordic Welfare States : Comparing Care Policies and Practice

The five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, are well-known for their extensive welfare system and gender equality which provides both parents with opportunities to earn and care for their children. In this topical book, expert scholars from the Nordic countries, as well as UK and the US, demonstrate how modern fatherhood is supported in the Nordic setting through family and social policies, and how these contribute to shaping and influencing the images, roles and practices of fathers in a diversity of family settings and variations of fatherhoods. This comprehensive volume will have wide international appeal for those who look to Nordic countries and their success in creating gender equal societies. FATHERHOOD IN THE NORDIC WELFARE STATES Contents List of tables and figures Tables Figures Notes on contributors Acknowledgements 1. Introduction Aim and background Organisation of the book Concept of fatherhood Growing interest in fathers Fathers and their role and involvement in families Theoretical and analytical perspectives Theme 1: Fathers, families and family policies 2. Fathering: the influence of ideational factors for male fertility behaviour Introduction Fertility decisions: structural, situational and cultural explanations Data and methods Characteristics of fathering Attitudes towards fatherhood Relationship between ideational factors and male fertility: regression analysis Conclusion 3. Nordic family law: new framework – new fatherhoods Introduction Nordic family law and social change Principles guiding family law reform Fatherhoods in different settings Conclusion 4. Fathers’ rights to family cash benefits in Nordic countries Introduction Fatherhood and family policies Breadwinners, taxation and child benefits Fathers’ rights to paid paternity and parental leave Fathers and child maintenance Model families and family benefits to fathers and mothers Conclusion Appendix: Model family calculations Theme 2: Fathers in everyday life – culture, work and care 5. Time use of Finnish fathers – do institutions matter? Introduction Fatherhood in the Finnish family policy context Family policy: potential for changing time use Data and methods Time used for work and care Conclusion: times are changing – slowly 6. Parental leave and classed fathering practices in Norway Introduction Classed and gendered father practices Data and methods The parental leave system and class variations in how fathers use leave The classing of care practices Conclusion 7. Negotiating leave in the workplace: leave practices and masculinity constructions among Danish fathers Introduction The Danish leave context Theoretical perspectives: leave practices and workplace negotiations Data and methods Three Danish workplaces Fathers’ leave practices in the three workplaces Fathers negotiating leave in the workplace Work or leave: conflicting ideals in fathers’ identity constructions? Conclusion 8. Gender regime, attitudes towards childcare and actual involvement in childcare among fathers Introduction Background Data and methods Gender policy regime shaping fathers’ attitudes and involvement in family life Conclusion Theme 3: Constructing fatherhood in different family settings 9. Fathering as a learning process: breaking new ground in familiar territory Introduction Data and methods Social change of fathering as a challenge to motherhood ideologies Understanding fathering as a learning process Negotiations of competent care Work performance and the reconfiguration of masculinity Children’s needs and intimate fathering Conclusion 10. Minority ethnic men and fatherhood in a Danish context Introduction Gender relations: complementarity versus equality Challenges to fatherhood arising from migration Data and methods Immigrant fathers facing difficulties Migrant men, fatherhood and divorce Fathers of the second generation Conclusion 11. Making space for fatherhood in gay men’s lives in Norway1 Introduction Political and social contexts of fatherhood Spatial construction of fatherhood Data and methods New fathers, new family patterns Creating space for the care of one’s own child Design of parenthood in time and space Common space for family based on different homes Conclusion 12. The long-term impacts of early paternal involvement in childcare in Denmark: what happens after nuclear family dissolution Introduction Conceptualising paternal involvement in the Danish context Data and methods Early paternal involvement and the probability of nuclear family dissolution Early paternal involvement and the relationship with the child after family break-up Socio-demographic characteristics of socially included and marginalised (divorced) fathers in 2011 Conclusion Theme 4: Caring fathers and paid parental leave policies 13. The coming and going of the father’s quota in Denmark: consequences for fathers’ parental leave take-up Introduction Institutional and cultural factors explaining take-up Towards shared parenthood in the Nordic countries Denmark: longer and low-paid leave instead of gender equality incentives for the father The father’s quota in Denmark Eliminating the father’s quota Re-installing the father’s quota? Data and methods The impact of leave structures on fathers’ leave take-up Leave take-up among different groups of fathers Conclusion 14. Policy goals and obstacles for fathers’ parental leave in Finland Introduction Data and methods Finnish fathers’ leave options and take-up of leave Theoretical approach: everyday life connects policies, practices and change Goals of Finnish parental leave policy: gender equality or ‘free choice’ The negotiation system and governance of leave policy Gender equality and ‘free choice’ in the policy process: individual quotas or transferable leave Fathers’ individual motivations Conclusion: ‘free choice’ and elusive gender equality 15. Caring fathers and parental leave in prosperous times and times of crisis: the case of Iceland Introduction The policy–practice interplay Data and methods Equal rights of both parents to paid parental leave How did fathers in Iceland receive their father’s quota? Fatherhood in the aftermath of financial crisis Conclusion 16. Parental leave use for different fathers: a study of the impact of three Swedish parental leave reforms Introduction Swedish parental leave over time Parental leave usage Which fathers take leave? Data and methods Fathers’ response to reforms Conclusion Appendix A: Description of variable definitions (for more information, see Duvander and Johansson, 2012b) Appendix B: Parental leave days for various groups of fathers before and after reforms in the parental leave insurance (OLS regressions) Theme 5: International reflections on findings 17. Parental leave and fathers: extending and deepening the knowledge base Introduction Lessons learned until now Caring fathers in the Nordic countries: further lessons 18. Nordic fathers: tracking diversity and complexity Introduction Migration and moving from homogeneity Post-separation fatherhood Legal codification of diverse fatherhood Doing fatherhood in diverse contexts Conclusions Conclusions: ‘What is constructed can be transformed’1 Index The Nordic countries are known worldwide for their extensive welfare system and gender equality, which enables both parents to hold jobs, earn money, and care for their children. In this volume, scholars from the Nordic countries, as well as from the United States and the UK, explore the effects of these policies on fatherhood, and how the policies that support it contribute to shaping and influencing the image, role, and practice of fathers in a diversity of family settings