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Chapters in Edited BooksWorking and caring: German couples’ realizations of non-normative work-care plans
Dechant, Anna; Rinklake, Annika (2019)
In: Grunow, Daniela; Evertsson, Marie (Eds.): New Parents in Europe. Work-Care Practices, Gender Norms and Family Policies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar : 87–107
DOI: 10.4337/9781788972970
In this chapter, we draw on reports of western German couples who did not plan to follow the dominant normative expectations of gendered separate spheres and analyse their experiences as new parents during the first year after childbirth. Eight out of fourteen couples interviewed in 2006 and 2007 planned and realized non-normative divisions of work and care as the mother was active in the labour market, the father reduced his paid working hours for childcare, and/or non-family members were involved in childcare. The couples discussed several aspects that were important for planning and achieving a non-normative work-care arrangement such as the mothers’ strong work identity, ideals of gender equity, financial reasons, and occupational conditions like support at the workplace. Overall, it was mostly the mothers who did not follow normative expectations of full-time maternal childcare while most fathers did not challenge the male breadwinner norm.