Doing, Re-doing or Undoing Masculinity? Swedish Men in the Filial Care of Aging Parents

Abstract

This article examines how men's involvement in the care of aging parents is accounted for in relation to discourses of masculinity and femininity. The article draws on semi-structured interviews with Swedish men and women caring for elderly parents. Using the concepts of doing, re-doing, and undoing gender as a theoretical tool, both reproduction and renegotiation of gendered understandings of caregiving were found. When accounting for men's lack of involvement in care, gender was often resorted to as an explanation. As men took on care responsibilities, the meaning of both care practices and masculinities were renegotiated, either by re-doing gender through distinctions of “new” hegemonic masculinities, or even by undoing gender through making gender irrelevant in care arrangements. Gender equality discourses were surprisingly absent from accounts of eldercare arrangements. Since policies on gender equality in Sweden have focused more on parenthood than other caregiving relationships, “caring masculinities” have not been made an ideal in relation to the care of aging parents.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Cathrin Wasshede, Ulla Björnberg, and Öncel Naldemirci for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of the article. Thanks are also due to all the generous caregivers of elderly parents who gave of their precious time to share their thoughts and experiences.

Notes

¹ The interviews were conducted by the author and Hans Ekbrand as part of an international research project entitled “Workers under Pressure and Social Care”, coordinated in 2007–2010 by C. Martin and B. Le Bihan and funded by the French National Research Agency and the Research Mission of the French Ministry of Social Affairs.

² All names in this article have been changed.

³ On St Lucia's day, celebrated on 13 December in the Nordic countries, a beautiful woman is elected or appointed each year to be the town's own Lucia and appears in a white dress and with a crown of candle lights singing Christmas songs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sofia Björk

Sofia Björk is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she is studying masculinity in relation to negotiations of work and family care commitments. Her publications include “Doing Morally Intelligible Fatherhood: Swedish Fathers' Accounts of Their Parental Part-Time Work Choices” in Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Men as Fathers (2013) and “Negotiating Gender Equality, Atypical Work Hours and Caring Responsibilities: The Case of Sweden” in Work and Care under Pressure. Care Arrangements across Europe (co-authored with Ulla Björnberg and Hans Ekbrand; Amsterdam University Press 2013)