Couples at work : negotiating paid employment, housework, and childcare / Emily Christopher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Christopher, Emily, author.

Series:

Sociology of children and families series.

Sociology of children and families

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dual-career families.

Work-life balance.

Couples--Psychology.

Couples.

Work and family.

Quality of life.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 216 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bristol : Bristol University Press, 2025.

Summary:

This book offers a unique look into how couples manage paid employment, housework and childcare. The author explores how employment structures, policies and practices intersect with individual attitudes to either reinforce or challenge gender inequalities in the domestic sphere through the 'doing' and 'undoing' of gender.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half Title

Series Information

Couples at Work: Negotiating Paid Employment, Housework, and Childcare

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgements

1 Couples at Work: An Introduction

The relationship between paid employment and divisions of labour

The study

First set of interviews

Revisiting couples

Outline of the book

2 Policies and Practices

A task is not just a task: conceptualizing domestic labour

Public sector employment transforming gender divisions?

'Doing gender'

'Good mothering'

'Good fathering'

The policy context

Parental leave

Childcare provision

Working hours

Long working hours

Reduced hours

Scheduling of hours

Shift work

Flexible working

Flexible working arrangements: are managers supportive?

Flexible working arrangements: are co-workers supportive?

Flexible working arrangements and domestic divisions of labour

Conclusion

3 Reconciling Paid Work and Motherhood

Mothers' commitment to paid work

Wanting to work

The decision to reduce hours

Spending time with the children

The decision to work full-time

Grandparents' childcare

Negotiating reduced hours in the public and private sectors

A question of 'choice'?

The employment penalty of becoming a mother

Career progression

Perceptions of commitment

Intensification of work

Working beyond contracted hours

Being contactable outside of working hours

4 Reconciling Paid Work and Fatherhood

A typology of fathers

Breadwinner fathers

Work-and-care fathers

Employers' hostility to reduced hour contracts

Opportunities for career progression

Working reduced hours to spend time with the children

What it means to father

Paternity leave.

Father's decision to work full-time or reduced hours

Responding to workloads

Doing what needs to be done

An unwillingness to work excessive hours

Non-standard working arrangements

Projecting a 'professional' image

Making use of opportunities to care

Promotion

Putting promotion first

Sacrificing promotion

5 Who Does the Childcare?

What does the household portrait reveal about childcare?

Predictable childcare

Getting the children ready in the morning

Dropping the children off at school/nursery

Grandparents' help

Informal arrangements

Picking up the children from school or nursery

After-school childcare

Taking children to activities

Unpredictable childcare

Responding to children waking during the night

Taking the day off if the child is unwell

Taking the children to the doctor

6 Who Does the Housework?

What does the household portrait reveal about housework?

Meals

Planning the meals

Grocery shopping

Cooking

Washing dishes

Laundry

Washing clothes

Ironing

Putting the clothes away

Cleaning

Cleaning the house

Vacuuming

Strongly gendered tasks

Kin work

'Man-typed' tasks

7 Couples at Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

The couples

The enduring relevance of 'good mothering' ideals

Fathering identities

The persistency of breadwinner fathering identities in working decisions

The persistency of work-and-care fathering identities in working decisions

Responding to work demands within the context of fathering identities

Working from home during the pandemic and beyond

Home working and home schooling

Managing workloads

Productivity and sociability

Working long hours

'It's my choice'

Who does the household labour now? A story of continuity and change.

Who does the childcare now?

Picking up the children from school

Taking the day off work if the child is unwell

Taking children to the doctor

Persistent gendered divisions in childcare tasks

Who is doing the housework now?

Persistent divisions of housework

Children's help

8 Conclusion

The significance of time and visibility

Reduced hours contracts

Other flexible arrangements

'Choice', self-responsibility, and gratitude

Complex meanings, relationalities, and care

(Un)changing divisions

Housework and care

Issues of measurement

Concluding thoughts

Appendix: Tables of Participants

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 12 Sep 2025).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-5292-2499-3

1-5292-2498-5

OCLC:

1521232455