Halving it All – How Equally Shared Parenting Works - Hardcover

Deutsch, Francine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674368002 ISBN 13: 9780674368002

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Francine Deutsch argues that the best way to have it all - both a full family life and a career - is to halve it all. She comes to this conclusion having interviewed a wide range of couples. Deutsch casts a skeptical eye on the grim story of inequality that has been told since women found themselves working a second shift at home. Using vivid quotations from her interviews, Deutsch tells the story of couples who share parenting equally, and some who don't. The differences between the groups are not in politics, education, or class, but in the way each negotiates the large and small issues - from whose paid job is "important" to who applies the sunscreen. With the majority of mothers in the workforce, parents today have to find ways of sharing the work at home. Rigid ideas of "good mothers" and "good fathers", Deutsch argues, can be transformed into a more flexible reality - the good parent.

About this title

Review

This well-constructed text is the result of an equally well-constructed research project funded by the National Science Foundation...Anyone interested in family life will be fascinated with the stories of how families work out the division of labor at home.--Mary Katherine O'Connor "Science Books and Films "

From the Author

Halving It All shows that equality works.
HALVING IT ALL shows that equality in parenting is not onlypossible, but practical. Yes, there are obstacles to overcome, but the equal sharers I interviewed show that parents can figure out how to work together to get everyone dressed, fed, and out the door happy in the morning. The Dads do their share of tickling, roughhousing,, and watching their kids' sports events, but they also get up at night to soothe infants and leave their jobs as often as their wives to care for sick children. That "motley collection of anecdotes and quotes" came from a diverse group of real families--not just college professors-- but also, secretaries, lawyers, business owners, and mail carriers. Equality works.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674368002
• ISBN 13: 9780674368002
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336