Making Sense of Parenthood
Caring, Gender and Family Lives
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:18th Aug '17
Should be back in stock very soon
Traces and theorises the processes of caring, paid work and 'gatekeeping' as parents negotiate these intensified and gendered domains.
An accessible analysis of family lives, gender equality and work, examining mothers' and fathers' accounts of negotiating parenting responsibilities and work-place demands. The book will have a broad appeal and relevance to academics, practitioners, students, parents and anyone contemplating parenthood, with the findings informing scholarly work and policy.Following on from Making Sense of Motherhood (2005) and Making Sense of Fatherhood (2010), Tina Miller's book focuses on transitions to first-time parenthood and the unfolding experiences of managing caring and paid work in modern family lives. Returning to her original participants, it collects later episodes of their experience of 'doing' family life, and meticulously examines mothers' and fathers' accounts of negotiating intensified parenting responsibilities and work-place demands. It explores questions of why gender equality and equity are harder to manage within the home sphere when organising caring and associated responsibilities, re-addressing the concept of 'maternal gatekeeping' and offering insights into a new concept of 'paternal gatekeeping'. The findings presented will inform both scholarly work and policy on family lives, gender equality and work.
'Based on a unique longitudinal study, Miller not only presents a deeply insightful account as to how parenthood is continually renegotiated over time, but also of how life itself – with all its capriciousness – influences our actions and choices. At the same time she clearly shows how politics and welfare provision strongly affect the balance between work and family life. Making Sense of Parenthood: Caring, Gender and Family Lives is an essential book for policymakers, students and scholars who are interested in family and social policy studies.' Lars Plantin, Malmö University, Sweden
'In this fascinating, meticulous and very readable book, Tina Miller draws on her rich series of in-depth interviews with mothers and fathers to offer fresh insights into the challenge of achieving truly equally shared parenting.' Rebecca Asher, author of Shattered and Man Up
'Can a primary caring responsibility be equally shared between mothers and fathers? This is the central question addressed by Miller in her engaging and perceptive study of sixteen middle-income, dual-earner families. A longer term follow up to her earlier research, in this volume, Miller traces how the responsibility for orchestrating the care of children falls to mothers, and how, over time, this pattern becomes etched into the very fabric of family life. It is a study that gets to the heart of gendered practices of parenthood.' Bren Neale, University of Leeds
ISBN: 9781107504288
Dimensions: 228mm x 152mm x 11mm
Weight: 300g
194 pages