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ARTICLES

Nurturing, breadwinning, and upbringing: paternal responsibilities by Finnish men in early fatherhood

Pages 308-324 | Received 10 Oct 2013, Accepted 08 Jun 2014, Published online: 14 Jul 2014
 

Abstract

In the Nordic countries, including Finland, gender-balanced distribution of childcare is both the goal of family policies and nowadays also a cultural norm of parenting. Thus, in most families, the father, along with the mother, plays a considerable role in hands-on care. This study captures and analyzes paternal responsibilities as narrated by Finnish fathers. It draws on 32 interviews with 16 fathers conducted during the first 3 years of their fatherhood, and applies the method of narrative inquiry, in which narratives are understood as constructors of knowledge. The analysis yielded nurturing, breadwinning, and upbringing, framed by the levels of everyday duties and comprehensive commitments, as the constituents of paternal responsibility. Probably as an outcome of the Finnish gender-equal and familistic societal atmosphere, nurturing played the focal role in the men's accounts. On the conceptual level, the results support the view that the dimension of responsibility is wholly embedded in fathering practices.

Dans les pays du Nord, y compris la Finlande, la répartition équilibrée des rôles par sexe en ce qui concerne la garde des enfants est à la fois un objectif des stratégies familiales et, de nos jours aussi, une norme culturelle de parentage. Ainsi, dans la plupart des familles, le père, ainsi que la mère, joue un rôle considérable dans les tâches pratiques de prise en charge des enfants. Cette étude montre et analyse les responsabilités parentales telles qu’elles sont racontées par des parents finlandais. Elle est basée sur 32 entretiens avec 16 parents qui ont eu lieu lors de leurs trois premières années de paternité. Cette étude utilise l’investigation narrative à travers laquelle les récits sont considérés comme des constructeurs de savoir. L’analyse montre qu’élever les enfants, subvenir aux besoins de la famille, et éduquer les enfants—déterminés par l’importance des tâches quotidiennes et des engagements fermes à tous les niveaux—sont des éléments constitutifs de la responsabilité paternelle. Sans doute, élever les enfants, qui est le résultat de l’atmosphère sociétale de la répartition égale des rôles par sexe et de la vie de famille des finlandais, est un rôle essentiel chez les hommes. Sur le plan conceptuel, les résultats confirment le point de vue selon lequel la dimension de la responsabilité est entièrement intégrée aux pratiques de paternité.

Notes on contributor

Petteri Eerola, M.A., is a researcher and a Ph.D. student in the Family Research Centre in the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He is currently finishing his doctoral thesis on paternal responsibilities and gendered parental practices. In autumn 2012, he spent 3 months at Universite Laval, Canada, working in Masculinties & Society research team. His recent publications include ‘Paternal masculinities in early fatherhood: Dominant and counter narratives by Finnish first-time fathers’ and ‘Metanarrative of the “new father” and narratives of young Finnish first-time fathers’.

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