IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v29y2024i3p694-711.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding ‘Gender Equality’: First-Time Parent Couples’ Practices and Perspectives on Working and Caring Post-Parenthood

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine Twamley
  • Charlotte Faircloth

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine Twamley & Charlotte Faircloth, 2024. "Understanding ‘Gender Equality’: First-Time Parent Couples’ Practices and Perspectives on Working and Caring Post-Parenthood," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(3), pages 694-711, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:3:p:694-711
    DOI: 10.1177/13607804231198619
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13607804231198619
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/13607804231198619?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oriel Sullivan, 2019. "Gender inequality in work-family balance," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(3), pages 201-203, March.
    2. Katherine Twamley, 2012. "Gender Relations among Indian Couples in the UK and India: Ideals of Equality and Realities of Inequality," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 17(4), pages 103-113, November.
    3. Lynn Jamieson, 2011. "Intimacy as a Concept: Explaining Social Change in the Context of Globalisation or Another Form of Ethnocentricism?," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 16(4), pages 151-163, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Punita Chowbey, 2017. "What is Food Without Love? The Micro-politics of Food Practices Among South Asians in Britain, India, and Pakistan," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 22(3), pages 165-185, September.
    2. Ranjana Raghunathan, 2022. "Everyday Intimacies and Inter-Ethnic Relationships: Tracing Entanglements of Gender and Race in Multicultural Singapore," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 77-94, March.
    3. Rosanna Hertz, 2022. "Sociological Accounts of Donor Siblings’ Experiences: Their Importance for Self-Identity and New Kinship Relations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Puxiang Ren & Jakob Emiliussen & Regina Christiansen & Søren Engelsen & Søren Harnow Klausen, 2022. "Filial Piety, Generativity and Older Adults’ Wellbeing and Loneliness in Denmark and China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 3069-3090, October.
    5. Kristen E Cheney, 2022. "Discordant Expectations of Global Intimacy: Desire and Inequality in Commercial Surrogacy," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(1), pages 43-59, March.
    6. Nicole Hiekel & Mine Kühn, 2024. "Lessons from the pandemic: Gender inequality in childcare and the emergence of a gender mental health gap among parents in Germany," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 51(3), pages 49-80.
    7. Rajagopalasingam V. & Fernando R. L. S. & Ramanayake U. B., 2021. "Impacts of Perceived Role Demands on Work-Life Balance and Moderating Effects of Work Ethics: Evidence from Public Sector Professionals in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(8), pages 115-115, July.
    8. Nora KOTTMANN & Laura DALES, 2023. "Doing Intimacy in Pandemic Times: Findings of a Large-Scale Survey Among Singles in Japan," Social Science Japan Journal, University of Tokyo and Oxford University Press, vol. 26(1), pages 3-26.
    9. Maree Martinussen, 2019. "Reason, Season, or Life? Heterorelationality and the Limits of Intimacy between Women Friends," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 24(3), pages 297-313, September.
    10. Mohammed Abdel Karim Al Hourani, 2024. "Gendered Interaction and Practices of Intimacy Among Emirati Young Spouses: Exploring the Experiences of Wives," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 29(1), pages 41-61, March.
    11. Shuang Qiu, 2020. "Chinese ‘Study Mothers’ in Living Apart Together (LAT) Relationships: Educational Migration, Family Practices, and Gender Roles," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(3), pages 405-420, September.
    12. Komal Niazi & Muhammad Shoaib & Song Qiulian, 2020. "Micro Impacts of a Macro‐Level Trading Partnership: Effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(1), pages 301-322, January.
    13. Pellegrini, Andrea & Pinjari, Abdul Rawoof & Maggi, Rico, 2021. "A multiple discrete continuous model of time use that accommodates non-additively separable utility functions along with time and monetary budget constraints," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 37-53.
    14. Kalliopi Kydonaki & Susanne Kean & Jennifer Tocher, 2020. "Family INvolvement in inTensive care: A qualitative exploration of critically ill patients, their families and critical care nurses (INpuT study)," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(7-8), pages 1115-1128, April.
    15. Kong, Shaojun & Guo, Jia & Huang, Dan, 2022. "The girlfriend getaway as an intimacy," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    16. Shruti Chaudhry, 2022. "Mid- and Later Life Cross-Sex Friendships in Minority Ethnic Contexts: Insights From Scotland," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(4), pages 947-963, December.
    17. Petra Lemberger & Tony Waters, 2022. "Thailand’s Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, November.
    18. Vili Lehdonvirta & Lulu P Shi & Ekaterina Hertog & Nobuko Nagase & Yuji Ohta, 2023. "The future(s) of unpaid work: How susceptible do experts from different backgrounds think the domestic sphere is to automation?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(2), pages 1-16, February.
    19. Cavapozzi, Danilo & Francesconi, Marco & Nicoletti, Cheti, 2024. "Dividing Housework between Partners: Individual Preferences and Social Norms," IZA Discussion Papers 17370, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Nitzan Peri-Rotem, 2019. "Gendered Career Pathways among Doctoral Graduates in the United Kingdom," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-14, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:3:p:694-711. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.