Fostering Caring Masculinities - New report

The overall objective of the project has been to examine and improve men’s opportunities for balancing work and private/family life, and particularly to encourage men to participate on equal terms with women in family life and care.
The main focus of the project has been to carry through workplace studies in two companies in each of the five partner countries. In these studies, the companies’ framework conditions for reconciliation of work and private/family life have been examined.
This report finds five main conlusions after an analysis of the national reports:
That in the Norwegian, Spanish and German companies measures to promote the reconciliation of work and family/private life is adopted as a part of the personnel policies. The measures adopted are mainly are: flexitime, home office and different kinds of leave arrangements. In the Icelandic and Slovene companies measures to balance work and family life are mainly non-existent.
Predominantly, the companies personnel policies for reconciliation of work and family life are either gender neutral or targeted directly at the situation of women.
Generally, very little attention is directed at men and how to encourage and foster caring masculinities. Measures targeted specifically at men concerning reconciliation of work and family life are generally not adopted in the companies studied. The Norwegian branch of the company Microsoft is the only exception. In this company men's reconciliation of work and family life is targeted through the daddy package and in particular by encouraging men to share the paternity leave equally with their partner.
Cultural norms of over-performance and always accessibility characterise the organisational culture in most companies included in the work study. This seriously impedes reconciliation of work and family life. However, the perception of this varies to a large degree. In some companies loving the job implies that high demands are not regarded as a problem. In others, the companies' expectations of high performance are evidently perceived as problematic and as an obstacle for participating fully in family life.
A gender equal parenthood is the principal norm among most informants. The ideal is that men and women should share family obligations and caring for and upbringing of children, equally. A normative preference of a traditional family model, with the man/husband as the main provider, appears at least on the ideal level as a marginal phenomenon.
Questions about the report can be adressed to Mari Teigen or Trude Langvasbråten.