Recreating the Meaning of Masculinity: A Content Analysis of Letters Written by Japanese Working Fathers

• In Event: 054 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01.Fatherhood and Paid Labor

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss how the changing Japanese social expectation of father’s role influences men’s perception of manhood and the meaning of work. By using the “terrain of the politics of masculinities” (Messner 2000) as a conceptual framework, we content analyzed 84 letters written by fathers who took a parental leave. From the analysis, we found three patterns. First, to keep men’s privilege at work, Japanese fathers who took a parental leave used two approaches: (1) justifying their work performance and (2) developing awareness of men’s privilege over female colleagues. Second, fathers who took a parental leave tended to show men’s optimistic views on balancing between work and family. However, we noticed that fathers are reinforcing the meaning of masculinity by adding a new gender role expectation and clarifying the purpose to work. Third, we discovered that some fathers were perplexed by the public discussion of the benefits of childcare experience on their work performance. These fathers expressed concerns that they became burden for other people at work. Other fathers descried that they are behind of their work because they took a parental leave.

Author

• Saori Yasumoto, Georgia State University