Collapsing the boundaries? Fatherhood, organization and home-working
Collapsing the boundaries? Fatherhood, organization and home-working
In the modern western world, the discursive construction of fatherhood and everyday fathering practices has been underpinned by the spatial separation of work from home, of public from private. However, increasing numbers of employees are now working from home and a disproportionate number of these are men with young children. This article draws on new empirical research to examine the implications for fathers and for organizations as home-working disrupts earlier spatial configurations of fatherhood and fathering practices. The article concludes that as the spatial boundaries between home and work collapse, new accommodations between fatherhood/fathering and organization are emerging. However, these are underpinned by a traditional gender division of labour in the household. More broadly, these findings confirm the inadequacy of static distinctions between public and private, showing that while such distinctions are still used to mark space and time, this is relational, contingent and unstable.
fatherhood, fathering practices, public/private, spatial boundaries, home-working
383-402
Halford, Susan
0d0fe4d6-3c4b-4887-84bb-738cf3249d46
2006
Halford, Susan
0d0fe4d6-3c4b-4887-84bb-738cf3249d46
Abstract
In the modern western world, the discursive construction of fatherhood and everyday fathering practices has been underpinned by the spatial separation of work from home, of public from private. However, increasing numbers of employees are now working from home and a disproportionate number of these are men with young children. This article draws on new empirical research to examine the implications for fathers and for organizations as home-working disrupts earlier spatial configurations of fatherhood and fathering practices. The article concludes that as the spatial boundaries between home and work collapse, new accommodations between fatherhood/fathering and organization are emerging. However, these are underpinned by a traditional gender division of labour in the household. More broadly, these findings confirm the inadequacy of static distinctions between public and private, showing that while such distinctions are still used to mark space and time, this is relational, contingent and unstable.
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Published date: 2006
Keywords:
fatherhood, fathering practices, public/private, spatial boundaries, home-working
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Local EPrints ID: 34802
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/34802
ISSN: 0968-6673
PURE UUID: 596ec5c4-9e8c-4c3f-93a1-45df943d8c58
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Date deposited: 19 May 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:49
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Author:
Susan Halford
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