Can Men Make Time for Family? Paid Work, Care Work, Work-family Reconciliation Policies, and Gender Equality

Abstract

This article reviews changes in the economy and demographic change in family life to argue that men (especially working-class men) will be increasingly compelled and able to do more family care work (childcare, eldercare, and self-care). Although there is evidence that a younger generation of fathers is more family centered than its predecessors, there is little evidence that the workplace has changed to better enable men to reconcile work and family responsibilities. Yet, across a range of states in the United States, elements of a Nordic-style package of work-family reconciliation policies—including paid family leave, eldercare, early childhood education, paid sick leave, and minimum wage increases—have been implemented, and these policy initiatives will likely continue (and expand) in the future. I conclude with a review of research on men’s uptake of work-family reconciliation policies, and offer some propositions (and call for further research) on how doing so would alter the pattern of gender inequality in family life and in the labor market.