In: European journal of work and organizational psychology: the official journal of The European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology, Band 25, Heft 2, S. 200-211
AbstractWhile women are increasingly entering traditionally masculine, agentic occupations and roles, there has been less of a shift in the opposite direction: men moving into traditionally feminine, communal occupations and roles. This paper outlines the negative consequences of men's low communal engagement, and how this inhibits various benefits for men themselves, for the women and children around them, and for society as a whole. We review how sociopsychological processes driven by gender norms and precarious manhood keep men from engaging in communal roles and behaviors. Moreover, we outline how insights into these contextual barriers to men's communal engagement may also be used to facilitate change such that men are freed to pursue both agentic and communal roles. We discuss (the effectiveness of) different interventions at the societal, organizational, social, and relational level that may enable men to pursue communal interests.
Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender‐based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental‐leave intentions in young adults (18–30 years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental‐leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental‐leave policies and women's political representation partially explained cross‐national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender‐egalitarian parental‐leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross‐national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross‐national variations in women's (rather than men's) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender‐egalitarian policies (linked to men's higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men's leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed.