Huang, Fei;
(2025)
Constructing Stay-at-Home Fathers’ Work-Care Identities in China.
The Journal of Men’s Studies
, 33
(1)
pp. 108-127.
10.1177/10608265241257832.
Preview |
Text
huang-2024-constructing-stay-at-home-fathers-work-care-identities-in-china (2).pdf - Published Version Download (598kB) | Preview |
Abstract
This article examines how stay-at-home fathers (SAHFs) position their primary caregiving identity in relation to paid work that they either used to have or currently have part-time/freelance. The aim is to understand how their sense of masculinity is shaped by and/or rebelled against normative gender expectations. 22 Chinese SAHFs participated in this qualitative research, involving one-to-one repeat semi-structured interviews over a year. Four fathering identities emerged from the data: “Ambivalent SAHFs”, “Reluctant SAHFs”, “Proud SAHFs”, and “Reflective SAHFs”. The juxtaposition of these subject positions indicates the tensions between assuming the primary caregiving role and conforming to normative gendered expectations for men. However, the findings also demonstrate that stay-at-home fathering identity is not fixed, but subject to change over time, with spousal support being crucial to their transition. This constant evolution challenges oversimplified categorizations of SAHFs as purely choice-driven or circumstantial.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Constructing Stay-at-Home Fathers’ Work-Care Identities in China |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/10608265241257832 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/10608265241257832 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 SAGE Publications. Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0) This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
| Keywords: | Stay-at-home fathers, masculinity, gender roles, caregiving, spousal support, China |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10217092 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
