{"id":8447,"date":"2016-09-07T10:25:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T15:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/?p=8447"},"modified":"2016-09-07T10:25:50","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T15:25:50","slug":"masculinity-and-the-stalled-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2016\/09\/07\/masculinity-and-the-stalled-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Masculinity and the Stalled Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted at <\/em>the Gender & Society blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Researchers increasingly find that American men\u00a0who are millennials\u2014more than men of earlier generations\u2014aspire\u00a0to create\u00a0relationships in which they\u00a0and their spouse equally\u00a0share earning\u00a0and\u00a0domestic\u00a0responsibilities,\u00a0including\u00a0care of young children.\u00a0Such egalitarian ideals are difficult to attain, however, given the time and energy demanded by today\u2019s\u00a0employers.<\/p>\n

\"balance\"One oft-cited remedy to this problem has been the introduction\u00a0of progressive work-family policies, such as paid\u00a0parental and\u00a0family leave\u00a0as well as\u00a0flexible workplace practices.\u00a0Such policies make\u00a0gender-egalitarian relationships\u00a0considerably\u00a0more feasible because\u00a0they provide\u00a0workers\u00a0with the time and resources needed to\u00a0more realistically balance the\u00a0often\u00a0competing demands of\u00a0employment\u00a0and\u00a0family\u00a0obligations.\u00a0In practice however,\u00a0men are\u00a0much\u00a0less likely than women to take\u00a0advantage of\u00a0such policies.<\/p>\n

Why\u00a0might this be the case?\u00a0One possibility centers on pure\u00a0economics: men tend to have higher\u00a0paying\u00a0and higher\u00a0status\u00a0jobs than women, and therefore may feel they have more to lose if they modify their work for the sake\u00a0of family. However, men\u2019s cultural beliefs about gender\u00a0also\u00a0likely\u00a0play an important\u00a0role.\u00a0For instance, some\u00a0men may not take\u00a0advantage of\u00a0these\u00a0policies simply because they do not believe\u00a0it is right for\u00a0men\u00a0to\u00a0take\u00a0on equal responsibility for family responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Furthermore,\u00a0sociologists routinely find\u00a0that\u00a0men\u2019s preferences and behaviors are driven by their sense of social approval by other men.\u00a0From this perspective,\u00a0some men may\u00a0not\u00a0utilize or support work-family policies because\u00a0they\u00a0believe that other men will judge them negatively for\u00a0taking advantage of\u00a0such policies.\u00a0In short,\u00a0if men believe that their\u00a0male\u00a0peers value paid work as a distinctively masculine responsibility, they may fear that\u00a0taking on a substantial\u00a0amount\u00a0responsibility for housework and childcare\u2014the behavior\u00a0that\u00a0supportive work-family\u00a0policies facilitate\u2014will undermine their masculine identity within their social circle.<\/p>\n

Our study tackles this\u00a0complex\u00a0set of\u00a0issues\u00a0by\u00a0identifying and measuring\u00a0the extent to which\u00a0young\u00a0men\u2019s cultural beliefs about gender are relevant for their responses to supportive work-family policies.\u00a0We implement\u00a0a novel survey-experimental design to\u00a0investigate\u00a0whether\u00a0the causal\u00a0effect of\u00a0the presence of supportive work-family policies\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0young\u00a0man\u2019s\u00a0preference\u00a0to take on equal or primary responsibility for housework and childcare\u00a0depends\u00a0on\u00a0his\u00a0cultural\u00a0beliefs about\u00a0gender.<\/p>\n

To that end, we focus on\u00a0two types of\u00a0cultural\u00a0beliefs. First,\u00a0we examine gender ideology:\u00a0whether\u00a0respondents believe that\u00a0other\u00a0men\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0have gender-egalitarian relationships.\u00a0Second, we examine\u00a0perceptions of\u00a0masculinity norms: whether\u00a0respondents believe that\u00a0other men\u00a0actually<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>do<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>aspire\u00a0to have\u00a0gender-egalitarian relationships.<\/p>\n

In our\u00a0survey\u00a0experiment, which\u00a0was conducted with a nationally representative sample of unmarried, childless,\u00a0American men between the ages of 18 and 32, we\u00a0asked each\u00a0respondent\u00a0to express\u00a0how\u00a0he would ideally prefer to divide work and\u00a0domestic responsibilities with his\u00a0future partner.\u00a0As part of the study, we randomly assigned participants to one of two groups.\u00a0In one group, participants\u00a0were told to state how they would ideally organize their future work and family responsibilities under the assumption\u00a0that supportive work-family policies\u2014specifically, paid family leave, subsidized childcare, and flexible workplace practices\u2014were in place.\u00a0In the other group, we made no mention of such policies, but still asked the men about how they would ideally like to balance work and family like in the future.\u00a0All participants then asked a series of questions about how they believe most men\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>organize work and family obligations, and how most men their age\u00a0actually do<\/em>\u00a0prefer to organize these obligations.<\/p>\n

Our key finding is that men\u2019s responses to the supportive work-family policy prime\u00a0are\u00a0contingent\u00a0upon\u00a0their\u00a0perceptions of normative masculinity\u2014that is, beliefs\u00a0about\u00a0what\u00a0the majority of other young men want.\u00a0Among the subgroup of\u00a0men\u00a0who\u00a0believed that the majority of\u00a0their male peers\u00a0actually<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>want\u00a0to take on equal or primary responsibility for housework and\/or childcare, supportive work-family policies increase the chances of selecting a progressive relationship structure\u00a0(e.g., being in an egalitarian relationship or being in a relationship where\u00a0they\u00a0would be primarily responsible for housework and childcare)\u00a0by nearly 26\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n

Further, we\u00a0show\u00a0that men\u2019s responses to the supportive work-family policy prime are\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>contingent on men\u2019s\u00a0value-laden\u00a0beliefs about whether men\u00a0ought to<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>share equally in earning and caregiving.\u00a0While gender ideology matters for many things, it does not appear that\u00a0deep changes to men\u2019s ideological beliefs\u00a0are\u00a0a prerequisite for increasing men\u2019s endorsement and take-up of supportive work-family policies.<\/p>\n

Together, these findings\u00a0contribute\u00a0new and important insights to the study of work and family life, masculinity, and the determinants of men\u2019s responses to supportive work-family policies. Whereas men\u2019s overall resistance to interventions aimed at supporting dual-earner, dual-caregiver relationships has proven to be a stumbling block to attaining greater gender equality, our findings demonstrate that such resistance is far from ubiquitous, and is in fact contingent on a man\u2019s localized perceptions of masculinity norms. Thus, our study identifies one key\u00a0factor\u00a0that contributes to persistent patterns of inequality in the workplace\u00a0and\u00a0at home. By designing work-family policies that take\u00a0masculinity norms into consideration, policymakers and business leaders alike may take an important step toward dismantling patterns of inequality.<\/p>\n

_________________________________<\/p>\n

Sarah<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Th\u00e9baud<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a faculty research associate of the Broom Center for Demography. Her work investigates social psychological and macro-institutional sources of gender inequality in the new economy. In addition to studies on the relationship between gendered cultural beliefs, workplaces, and families, her research examines patterns of gender inequality in entrepreneurial activity, investment markets, and academic science and engineering.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

David<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>S.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Pedulla<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>is\u00a0Assistant Professor of Sociology and\u00a0Faculty Research Associate in the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Using primarily experimental and quantitative approaches, his research examines the processes underlying racial and gender stratification in the labor market. One ongoing project\u00a0investigates\u00a0the gendered and racialized consequences of nonstandard, contingent, and precarious employment on workers\u2019 social and economic outcomes.<\/p>\n

Their article \u201cMasculinity and the Stalled Revolution: How Gender Ideologies and Norms Shape Young Men\u2019s Responses to Work\u2013Family Policies\u201d can be found in the\u00a0August 2016; <\/span>30<\/span> <\/a>(4) issue <\/a>of\u00a0Gender & Society<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally posted at the Gender & Society blog. Researchers increasingly find that American men\u00a0who are millennials\u2014more than men of earlier generations\u2014aspire\u00a0to create\u00a0relationships in which they\u00a0and their spouse equally\u00a0share earning\u00a0and\u00a0domestic\u00a0responsibilities,\u00a0including\u00a0care of young children.\u00a0Such egalitarian ideals are difficult to attain, however, given the time and energy demanded by today\u2019s\u00a0employers. One oft-cited remedy to this problem has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1958,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25814],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manly-musings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1958"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8447"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8451,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447\/revisions\/8451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}