Food and masculinity in dual-career couples

Abstract

A lifestyle-oriented reformulation of food preparation in the family may serve as a vehicle for a transgression of the gender division of labour. Drawing on two qualitative studies of Norwegian and Danish dual-career couples, we identify three patterns of praxis in relation to food. The patterns are steps in a process of change towards a more gender-equal organization of family life. In the first pattern, the narratives expose feelings of shortcomings towards the ideal of equality. Food preparation is here a primarily female responsibility related to care for the family's wellbeing. From these narratives, a second pattern emerges, displaying different forms of masculine identification with food preparation. Drawing on either a practical or a ‘con amore’ orientation towards food preparation, these new masculine identifications create a departure from the cultural connotations connecting food, femininity and care. This change, in turn, paves the way for the third pattern, where food preparation becomes a new joint project in the family. We argue that this new masculine identification with food preparation as leisure activity does not represent a reproduction of the structural gender relationship, but rather a prerequisite for a more profound change in the gender division of labour.