This volume brings together contributors from 18 countries to provide international perspectives on the politics of parental leave policies in different parts of the world. Initially looking at the politics of care leave policies in eight countries across Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia, the book moves on to consider a variety of key issues in depth, including gender equality, flexibility and challenges for fathers in using leave. In the final section of the book, contributors look beyond the early parenthood period to consider possible future directions for care leave policy in order to address the wider changes and challenges that our societies face.

The second edition of Andrea Doucet's Do Men Mother? builds upon the award winning first edition to further illuminate fathers' candid reflections on caring and the intricate social worlds that men and women inhabit as they 'love and let go' of their children. Including interviews with over one hundred fathers - from truck drivers to insurance salesmen, physicians to artists - Doucet illustrates how men are breaking the mould of traditional parenting models. This edition expands her argument wider and deeper, building on changes to the theoretical work that informs the field, her own intellectual trajectory, and the fieldwork of revisiting six fathers and their partners a decade after her initial interviews. She continues to examine key questions such as: What leads fathers to trade earning for caring? How do fathers navigate through the 'maternal worlds' of mothers and infants? Are men mothering or are they redefining fatherhood? In asking and unravelling the question 'Do men mother?' this study tells a compelling story about Canadian parents radically re-envisioning child care and domestic responsibilities in the twenty-first century.

The definitions of fatherhood have shifted in the twenty-first century as paternal subjectivities, conflicts, and desires have registered in new ways in the contemporary family. This collection investigates these sites of change through various lenses from popular culture - film, television, blogs, best-selling fiction and non-fiction, stand-up comedy routines, advertisements, newspaper articles, parenting guide-books, and video games. Treating constructions of the father at the nexus of patriarchy, gender, and (post)feminist philosophy, contributors analyze how fatherhood is defined in relation to masculinity and femininity, and the shifting structures of the heteronormative nuclear family. Perceptions of the father as the traditional breadwinner and authoritarian as compared to a more engaged and involved nurturer are considered via representations of fathers from the US, Canada, Britain, Australia, South Africa, and Sweden.

Over the past few decades, scholarly and policy interest in fatherhood and fathering has burgeoned, in large part because of profound social changes in women's and men's lives in the last half of the twentieth century. However, this research has remained largely national in focus, with little cross-cultural dissemination of knowledge about fathering practices and supportive or constraining social policies. This insightful volume presents a transatlantic perspective on fatherhood and fathering comparatively across nation states, as well as in individual countries (including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Norway.) Exploring the diversity of fatherhood, it encompasses differences across social class, race and ethnicity, age and life course, and varied household formations. The articles examine young fathers, separated and divorced fathers, fathers from minority ethnic and immigrant groups, working-class fathers, new fathers, gay fathers, and fathers of children with special needs. Readers can gauge the different "epochs" of fathering over time and explore the tension that fathers may experience between being good financial providers and actively caring for their children. Topics of adversity in the face of fatherhood include non-residence, homelessness or poor housing; marginalization in wider society; racism; low-paying, unstable or lack of employment; and the struggle to find a work-family balance. When looking at fatherhood on an international scale, it is imperative to ask if fathers' subjectivities and actions can be understood outside of their social and material contexts. The articles here take the reader through these contexts - such as family and neighborhood supports, the labor market, welfare state conditions and the way in which policy measures interact with preexisting and varying conditions. Authored by leading figures in fathering research from North America, Europe, and Scandinavia, the multilayered and intriguing articles in this volume of The ANNALS point toward the need for sustainable policy frameworks that enable fathers to be involved in their children's lives in ways that do not include biased assumptions about the expression of that involvement. Students, scholars and policymakers will find that this collection of cutting-edge articles challenges current social policies and public law regarding fatherhood across nations. It provides an important global outlook on an intriguing and important topic as well as inspiration for future research.

Over the past few decades, scholarly and policy interest in fatherhood and fathering has burgeoned, in large part because of profound social changes in women's and men's lives in the last half of the twentieth century. However, this research has remained largely national in focus, with little cross-cultural dissemination of knowledge about fathering practices and supportive or constraining social policies. This insightful volume presents a transatlantic perspective on fatherhood and fathering comparatively across nation states, as well as in individual countries (including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Norway.) Exploring the diversity of fatherhood, it encompasses differences across social class, race and ethnicity, age and life course, and varied household formations. The articles examine young fathers, separated and divorced fathers, fathers from minority ethnic and immigrant groups, working-class fathers, new fathers, gay fathers, and fathers of children with special needs. Readers can gauge the different "epochs" of fathering over time and explore the tension that fathers may experience between being good financial providers and actively caring for their children. Topics of adversity in the face of fatherhood include non-residence, homelessness or poor housing; marginalization in wider society; racism; low-paying, unstable or lack of employment; and the struggle to find a work-family balance. When looking at fatherhood on an international scale, it is imperative to ask if fathers' subjectivities and actions can be understood outside of their social and material contexts. The articles here take the reader through these contexts - such as family and neighborhood supports, the labor market, welfare state conditions and the way in which policy measures interact with preexisting and varying conditions. Authored by leading figures in fathering research from North America, Europe, and Scandinavia, the multilayered and intriguing articles in this volume of The ANNALS point toward the need for sustainable policy frameworks that enable fathers to be involved in their children's lives in ways that do not include biased assumptions about the expression of that involvement. Students, scholars and policymakers will find that this collection of cutting-edge articles challenges current social policies and public law regarding fatherhood across nations. It provides an important global outlook on an intriguing and important topic as well as inspiration for future research.