The Studies

According to Fiona Williams (2003) we should not ask ourselves how care and the needs for care are implemented in the work, but how work can be involved and implemented into care. This line of thinking, acting and implementing the work/life balance aims at family friendly policy as well as at work policy enabling men and women to share responsibilities, caring and family life. In this regard traditional gender roles are challenged, which opens space for rethinking the concepts of men, women, femininity and masculinity. Moreover it changes the perspective of perception that caring is gendered burden and undervalued activity in society and enables us to think of caring as benefiting in the public sphere.

Changes in the work and private sphere

Europe is currently characterised by a new type of working life where dual-career adaptations are more common along with increased requirements for flexibility. Responsibility for care is becoming the normal situation for working people. The stereotype of the husband as the main breadwinner is in decline in Europe and is gradually being replaced by ideals of active fathering and equal sharing of care responsibilities (Brandth and Kvande 2003, Holter 2003, Puchert et al. 2005).

At the same time Europe is facing huge demographic challenges, which make care an even more central topic. These challenges are related to family reconciliation and fertility, but also on health care and care for elderly people. It is neither desirable (from a gender equality perspective) nor probable (from the perspective of ongoing changes) that care maintains the traditional female bias.

Changing masculinities

In some parts of Europe we can see positive changes among men: their private wishes, obligations and attitudes are undergoing great change, but working life is not keeping pace. Men still live in a state of preparedness for their jobs, women in a state of preparedness for the home (Lilleaas 2004). Hegemonic and traditional gender role models are still effective among men and women, in partnerships and, most of all, in the work-sphere (Puchert et al. 2005).

EU-research (e.g.: Work Changes Gender, cf. Puchert et al. 2005) shows that male employees are more family- and care-oriented than previously. However, development trends in the post-industrial society appear to support the fact that some groups of men still are attracted to the breadwinner model.  Many men let their jobs take precedence over the rest of their life. There are many reasons why men still linger in the sphere of working life. Men’s strong identification with working life seems to be a cultural and symbolic solution that has its roots in traditional man’s ideals where the father was the breadwinner. Men in general work more overtime compared to women. The breadwinner conduct can be understood as a structural phenomenon that is maintained in society and working life. The breadwinner model refers to deep-rooted masculinity and gender standards. Holter (2003) calls this the ‘sprinkle system’, which:  

“consists of economic incentives that favour the provider or breadwinner role rather than the caring role. It keeps men out of care-related activities, professional care giving work, as well as care giving in private life…The sprinkle system is not just an economic system favouring the breadwinner. It is also social, cultural and psychological. It is connected to social sanctions against unmanliness, to contempt for weakness and to a struggle for ‘model power.’ The two basic ideological messages of the system rest on the premise of the man as the hard outgoing instrumental type – the ‘go till you drop’ syndrome. One message is that men are expendable. The other is that men do not care. When a gender ideal like the breadwinner one is partially realised through such a sprinkle system, including economic rewards in working life, it takes on a normative quality. It persists and has a larger impact than one would otherwise expect...” (Holter 2003a: 25).

Work-life and organisations, according to Holter (2003) and Puchert et al. (2005) are central players in frustrating pro-care changes among men. The breadwinner track and “sprinkle factors” seem to be in particular effective in this field.

The relation between work and private sphere

We have chosen in this project to focus our study and operations to working life. In particular, we want to look more closely at how working life affects men’s opportunities to practise caring masculinities and examine ongoing shifts in male working environment in Europe. We also want to look into how working environment interact with changing masculinities and how this affects opportunities for gender equality. The project emphasizes on organisational cultures, and more specifically on the role of internal innovators in the process of gender changes. We will develop an innovator’s model of managers, experts and male employees who can be identified as care pioneers, a new role model for men.

Even though we start at the labour market and inside the companies, we see the work sphere and the private sphere as deeply inter-related. Changes in the labour market will necessarily affect the private sphere. The researchers Hege Skjeie (University of Oslo), and Mari Teigen (Oslo Institute for Social Research, 2003), claim that the established Scandinavian gender equality discourse and the increased support for the equality norm is first and foremost an ideal that Norwegian managers support 100 per cent, but that is not pursued in practice. In this project we want to focus on working life and its managers in order to acquire more knowledge of what causes gender equality to remain only an ideal rather than something the managers put into action. With the intervening in companies and in the dialog with experts and innovators, the project aim to produce change and encourage managers to move from an idealistic gender equality discourse to a more practical action oriented discourse. (fra ord til handling)

Father friendly policies

The father’s quota in both Norway and Iceland is a good example of how practical action can contribute to creating great changes in a short time. Its introduction has resulted in fathers participating more in caring for their children, at the same time as we can see that women and men still choose very differently with regard to making priorities between work and family. Experience from Iceland shows that working life represents an obstacle because it is still organised on the concept that men are the breadwinners and women the mothers. At the same time the myth lives on that the mother is better suited to take care of children than the father, particularly with regard to care for small children.

The parental leave schemes in Norway and in Iceland are both examples of the fact that a strong political will is required to change basic gender role patterns. In spite of considerable changes, the figures still show that we have a long way to go before we can talk of an acceptant of, or a strong social change in how masculinities is defined and how it include the aspects of care. Research shows (Puchert et al. 2005) that the fathers’ track is one of the most important tracks for changing masculinities. The fathering masculinity includes and legitimises the caring conditions in men’s lives and support a change towards a more gender equal society. The men who learn to deal with, and combine both working life and family life represent innovators and are good examples of how men in general better can include aspects of caring masculinities in their lives.

Caring masculinities

In addition the results of the EU project ‘Work Changes Gender’ show that also other aspects and dimensions of caring are important for men’s lives and work-life balance and should not be ignored. These aspects are caring for: biological and non-biological children, relatives, member of families, friends, colleagues, other persons in need of care, social engagement, social work (non-profit area), self-care (e.g. health, emotional and mental signs of the own body) in other words: Non-caring is one of fundamental aspects of hegemonic/traditional masculinities and leads to overwork, the tendency to ignore health issues and disrespect of the own physical boundaries. In fact the latter (self-care) is a necessary precondition for the former points, since a person who is not able to care for himself in the long run cannot care for others. For certain types of men this could be a clue to more involvement in gender issues.

National studies

Each partner country of FOCUS will carry through a national study. The steering committee has developed a common design for the country level study. The implementation and national level analysis of the contextual data gathering will be implemented by partner country. The The Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud has, in collaboration with the Steering Committee, developed an interview guide for the national level action work study. Each country will select one private and one public company/organisation or select external experts to be involved in the project, and carry out the action work study. The implementation and national level analysis of the contextual data gathering and the case study will be implemented by partner country. On the basis of the result from the national studies there will be developed a guideline/ practical tools for change. On the basis of the information from each partner country, the Institute for social research (ISF) in Norway will make the European level analysis that will provide the European added value of the studies.

Outputs

The collection, analysis and dissemination of the data and best practices in the partner countries will be implemented through the following tasks:

• Each national partner will make a report on a) conditions for balancing work and private/family life in their country (facts and figures, legislation, best practices etc) and b) action work and expert study within two companies/organisations (one public, one private). Collect and analyse existing information on change processes in terms of balancing work and family (caring for others and themselves). Such report can contribute to draw attention to the subject and identify potential innovators. The chosen organisations will be portrayed, with special focus on working and manager cultures. The action work aim to promote organisational change, intervene and cooperate with change actors, innovators, expert and leaders in the chosen companies.
• The German partner will carry out an expert study, with group discussions with external experts. The study will be carried out with about 10 consultants of organisational development and Gender Mainstreaming, who are experienced in the topic of men, especially in working with male decision makers. One focus could be on gendered conflicts in organisations concerning reconciliations issues also concerning expectations of availability on male employees and overwork orientation of traditional masculinity / breadwinner-oriented men. The aim is to include the experts’ experiences. This will be documented and given to the participants to integrate in their daily work. Collect and assess experiences: Which methods or approaches worked, which failed and why? Which kinds of resistances and stereotypes could be identified and successfully addressed?
• Main focus will be on a workshop module on work-life-balance especially for men (developed by Dissens/genderWerk), which contains an easy-access approach for men and focuses on men’s specific needs and interests. This module will be offered for leaders, decision makers, trade unions, and change actors in organisations. It will have a threefold focus: on organisational development, gender competency and conflict management. These tools will be adapted intercultural and with regards to the results from the research phase, especially taking into account different aspects of care in men’s lives. They will then be assessed and potentially modified by the partners and subsequently disseminated.
• Develop guidelines and practical tools for managers based on the action work and expert study.
• A national conference for presentation of the project results and for the exchange of best practices and experiences will be conducted.
• Produce national reports, conference report and a comparative report with a European dimension.
  

Reference Material

Brandth, B and Kvande, E, (2003): Fleksible fedre: maskulinitet, arbeid, velferdsstat. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget.

Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities, Berkeley and Los Angeles.

Holter Ø.G, (2003):  Can Men Do It? Men and gender equality - the Nordic experience TemaNord:510, Copenhagen.

Höyng, S. and Puchert, R. (1998): Die Verhinderung der beruflichen Gleichstellung. Männliche Verhaltensweisen und männerbündische Kultur (The Frustration of Professional Equality), Bielefeld.

Lange, Ralf (1998): Männer, Macht, Management. Zur sozialen Konstruktion von hegemonialer Männlichkeit in Organisationen (Men, Power, Management) in: Widersprüche, Heft 67, 45-61.

Lilleaas, Ulla-Britt (2003) Moderne par i gamle roller, Aftenposten 17.3.03

Ralf Puchert, Marc Gärtner and Stephan Höyng (2005): Work Changes Gender. Men and Equality in the Transition of Labour Forms, Opladen.

Williams, F. (2003, October). Rethinking Care in Social Policy. Paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Finnish Social Policy Association, University of Joensuu, Finland. Retrieved February 15, 2005 from www.leeds.ac.uk/cava/people/fiona.htm