Doucet's Feminist Theory

In “Is the Stay-At-Home Dad (SAHD) a Feminist Concept? A Genealogical, Relational, and Feminist Critique,” Andrea Doucet (2016) argues that as feminist as the concept of stay-at-home fathering seems, the concept is actually informed by outmoded norms and roles. In particular, the author addresses issues of personal choice in work and family care. The author relies on an extensive body of longitudinal data to substantiate her claims. Doucet’s (2016) research parallels an extensive body of literature on the subject of stay-at-home dads, contributing tremendously to burgeoning scholarship in the intersectional areas of sociological research addressing race, class, gender, and power.

As Doucet (2016) points out, media coverage of the increase in

Relationality and relational theory, which is “rooted in transdisciplinary and diverse fields,” provides the underpinning for Doucet’s (2016) astute analysis (p. 3). Relational theory focuses on layers of dependence and interdependence, and on the social construction of norms and roles within relational structures. One of the foundational arguments of Doucet’s (2016) research is that binaries, which are also socially constructed, can impede meaningful social justice. Binaries include the most obvious gender binary of male/female, but also extend to more abstract binaries like subject/object. Binaries are indeed part of the established feminist discourse and relevant to Doucet’s (2016) analysis. Yet ancillary research on the subject of stay-at-home dads does not emphasize the importance of binaries, making Doucet’s (2016) contributions considerable, if generally self-indulgent. In fact, research is showing that stay-at-home dads are eroding outmoded binaries rather than reinforcing them, as Doucet (2016) endeavors to claim. According to Mitchell (2008), for example, changes to Canadian law have facilitated fathers’ transitions from a strictly binary work/family to a more integrated life that benefits all members of the

1). General audience publications like Smith’s (2009) book The Daddy Shift are also signaling the benefits of the trend towards altered gender roles in households. Research is also revealing the long-term benefits and measurable outcomes of increasing funding for stay-at-home fathering. For instance, in Belgium, government policies to promote stay-at-home fathering have greatly contributed to the proliferation of women in the corporate sector because “these policies start by acknowledging that women 's position in the labour market and society will not be improved unless men take on traditionally female activities, both in the public and the private sphere,” (Merla, 2008, p. 113). Masculine hegemony can be challenged in spheres of public power only when gender binaries are reconsidered across the board. Doucet’s (2016) critique of stay-at-home dad discourse suggests that breaking down gender norms in the family sphere somehow undermines global feminist