Gender And Masculinity Essay

There has been a growing research that documents the recent changes in the relationship of gender, paid work, and parenting which suggests that most men still emphasize employment as a central aspect of their role in fatherhood (Shows and Gerstel 2009). There are two main models of masculinity when it comes to fatherhood: “neo-traditional,” and “newly constituted;” The former is an example of “public fathering,” while the latter is more involved in “private fathering” (Shows and Gerstel 2009). Class has a large impact on what type of fathering a man is likely to engage in. Using employment as a signifier of class, Shows and Gerstel (2009) suggest that working class men are more likely to engage in “private fathering,” while middle or upper class men are more likely to be involved in “public fathering.” The neo-traditional model of masculinity prioritizes their job before their family in the classic ‘breadwinner’ archetype. In contrast, the newly constituted model of masculinity puts the care of the children and family ahead of the job, and emphasizes a shared workload with their

Shows and Gerstel (2009) found that men “who were least likely to ideologically endorse gender equality (the working class) are the most likely to engage in equitable actions” (Shows and Gerstel 2009, p.179). Essentially, working class men are “undoing gender” in their at-home actions by engaging in private fathering, while middle/upper class men are bolstering the gender inequality within families by participating in “visible” fathering (Shows and Gerstel 2009, p.181-182). Public fathering is visible to outside community members, and so is available for praise and comment, which reinforces the view of a traditional gender order by portraying the norms of gender inequality in a public