This aim of this open access book is to launch an international, cross-disciplinary conversation on fatherhood engagement. By integrating perspective from three sectors -- Health, Social Policy, and Work in Organizations -- the book offers a novel perspective on the benefits of engaged fatherhood for men, for families, and for gender equality. The chapters are crafted to engaged broad audiences, including policy makers and organizational leaders, healthcare practitioners and fellow scholars, as well as families and their loved ones.

"The perceptions of the role of women and men in families have changed over the past few decades. Men are no longer perceived as the economic providers to families. The role of men in the family has undergone many "diverse demographic, socio-economic and cultural transformations" impacting the formation, stability and overall well-being of families. In light of this development, DESA's Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) launched a new publication on "Men in Families and Family Policy in a Changing World" on 17 February focusing on the shifting roles and views of men in families."--Provided by publisher.

More important, Coltrane suggests that as fathers participate more fully in raising their children and performing traditionally female household tasks, men will themselves be transformed by the experience in profoundly positive ways and American society as a whole will move closer to true gender equity.

Recently, the roles of fathers and husbands in families have been recognized as important issues. They appear in legislation aimed at deadbeat dads, social movements including the Million Man March and Promise Keepers, in the development of advocacy groups, and in think tanks. Therefore, contemporary research on men in family relationships has very mixed results. Some studies show that fathers have small effects on child development and in preventing antisocial behavior, whereas others suggest no effects. Other research claims that the primary importance of men in families is in their role as providers. Although some studies state that the husbands' and fathers' most vital work occurs in new families, others indicate that it is when their offspring reach adolescence. Confusing the issue even further, labor market trends predict that men's family roles may diminish. Based on the presentations and discussions from a recent national symposium on men in families held at The Pennsylvania State University, this book addresses these issues. This is the only book that deals with men's involvement in families in a comprehensive way. Although several books focus on fathers alone or on a broader family perspective, this is the first book that deals with a variety of family roles on an interdisciplinary basis. Although most of the writers are psychologists or sociologists, there are key figures in history and anthropology who also make important contributions. As such, this volume will be useful to scholars, students, policy specialists, and family program administrators.

Based on the William E. Massey Sr. lectures in the history of American Civilization.

A clear examination of timely issues regarding men's changing roles in marriage and the family.

In the last two decades there has been a plethora of research on a range of subjects collectively and rhetorically known as ‘work-life balance’. The bulk of this research, which spans disciplines including feminist sociology, industrial relations and management, has focused on the significant concerns of employed women and/or dual career couples. Less attention has been devoted to scholarship which explicitly examines men and masculinities in this context. Meanwhile, public and organizational discourse is largely espoused in gender neutral terms, often neglecting salient gendered issues which differentially impact the ability of women and men to successfully integrate their work and non-work lives. This edited book brings together empirical studies of the work-life nexus with a specific focus on men’s working time arrangements, how men navigate and traverse paid work and family commitments, and the impact of public and organizational policies on men’s participation in work, leisure, and other life domains. The book is innovative in that it presents both macro (institutional, how policy affects practice) and micro (individual, from men’s own perspectives) level studies, allowing for a rich and contrasting exploration of how men’s participation in paid work and other domains is divided, conflicted, or integrated. The essays in this volume address issues of fundamental social, labor market, and economic change which have occurred over the last 20 years and which have profoundly affected the way work, care, leisure and community have evolved in different contexts. Taking an international focus, Men, Wage Work and Family contrasts various public and organizational policies and how these policies impact men’s opportunities and participation in paid work and non-work domains in industrialised countries in Europe, North America, and Australia.