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26 - Undoing Gender: Different Cultures, Similar Stories

from What We Have Learned

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2020

By
Francine M. Deutsch  and
Ruth A. Gaunt
Edited by
Francine M. Deutsch  and
Ruth A. Gaunt
Francine M. Deutsch
Affiliation:
Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts
Ruth A. Gaunt
Affiliation:
University of Lincoln
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Summary

This chapter describes the ways in which couples undo gender by resisting the mandate for men to prioritize paid work while women prioritize care. In contrast, in diverse cultures couples created equality when men forged an unconventional relation to paid work (e.g., working part-time or passing up promotions that interfere with family life), when they took on stereotypically maternal care tasks (e.g., diapering and comforting), when women freely shared the “maternal” role, when they insisted that their jobs/careers were as important as their partners’, and when couples shared housework.

Keywords

Undoing genderpaid workcareer equityfatherhoodmaternalhouseworkbaby carecross-cultural
Type
Chapter
Information
Creating Equality at Home
How 25 Couples around the World Share Housework and Childcare
 , pp. 345 - 365
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

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