Reconsidering the Ideal Worker: Workplace Evaluations of Fathers by Paternal Involvement and Race

• 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

Survey research shows that the extent of the “fatherhood wage premium” varies by men’s level of involvement with their children and their race/ethnicity. Variation is thought to be driven, in part, by employer discrimination, though scant experimental research exists to effectively assess this claim. I conduct a vignette study on a representative sample of employed U.S. adults that examines evaluations of fathers in the professional workplace by involvement and race. Results suggest that being highly involved with children is evaluated more favorably for fathers overall, but this differs by race. Highly involved white and Asian fathers -- but not African-American and Latino fathers -- are evaluated significantly more positively than their childless counterparts in terms of character, commitment, and salary. Childless African-American men, on the other hand, are evaluated significantly more favorably than other childless men in terms of behavior, character, and hirability. Findings shed light on previously obscured patterns of workplace inequality as well as call into question current conceptualizations of the ideal worker standard. 

Author

• Kathleen E. Denny, University of Maryland