Twamley, Katherine;
Faircloth, Charlotte;
(2023)
Understanding ‘Gender Equality’: First-Time Parent Couples’ Practices and Perspectives on Working and Caring Post-Parenthood.
Sociological Research Online
10.1177/13607804231198619.
(In press).
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Abstract
This article explores the ways couples making the transition to parenthood think about, practise, and assess ‘gender equality’. The analysis draws on data from two qualitative, longitudinal projects in the UK with 36 mixed-sex couples, grounded in the sociology of intimacy and parenting culture respectively. Both projects explore gender relations at the transition to parenthood, with recent changes in UK parental leave as a backdrop, to interrogate couples’ ideals and practices. In this article, we outline four configurations of equality articulated by couples: ‘symmetry’, ‘breaking gender stereotypes’, ‘fairness’, and ‘equality as respect’, which were developed through collaborative analysis. We explore how different configurations shape gendered practices in early parenthood. The analysis provides novel insights into the ways in which ‘gender equality’ is differentially defined and practised; shaped by the political and cultural context in which parents live; and relational in nature – thereby contributing to debates around equality in gendered divisions of paid and unpaid work.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Understanding ‘Gender Equality’: First-Time Parent Couples’ Practices and Perspectives on Working and Caring Post-Parenthood |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/13607804231198619 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231198619 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | Gender equality, parenthood, intimacy, parenting culture, parental leave |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177541 |
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