When and how long? Anxiety and uncertainty in expectant fathers' negotiation of paternity leave from work in the UK
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3977539 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Menzel (0000-0002-9360-7869, University of Birmingham, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-24 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14649365.2025.2540833 |
| OpenAlex | W4412842544 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
Building upon broader conceptions of family-as-practice, geographers have convincingly situated pregnancy and parenthood as implicitly spatial experiences, with the transition to parenthood being associated with an array of spaces/places, and changes to spatial routines. Following the arrival of a child, parents typically take a portion of leave from work, the amount of which generally differs between mothers and fathers. Whilst the importance, and value, of fathers’ leave-taking has been increasingly argued in both policy and research, it is still generally expected that mothers will need, and take, more time away from work. Indeed, UK statutory maternity-leave includes 26-weeks ‘ordinary leave’, compared to just 2-weeks paternity (though with possibilities for further leave), reflecting pervasive societal expectations of mother-caregiver/father-breadwinner gendered parenting roles. Drawing upon 29 periodic, in-depth interviews with nine expectant fathers (most living in England), this paper examines the fractious tensions participants felt between leave-taking and being a ‘good worker’. It illuminates their anxieties and uncertainties, even guilt, about taking leave from work, developing understanding of the emotional geographies embroiled in fathers’ navigation of workplaces and care commitments during pregnancy and early parenthood. Thus, it furthers geographic research on fathering, as well as broader (feminist) debates around flexible working to support fathers’ more equitable contribution to the labour/demands of early parenthood
Anxiety · Demographic economics · Economics · Labour economics · Negotiation · Parental leave · Psychiatry · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Work hours · Working hours · Engineering · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Social Psychology
"Without Taking Away Her Leave"
The coronavirus pandemic
When equal partners become unequal parents
Researching parental leave during a pandemic
Regendering care or undoing gendered binaries of parenting in contemporary UK society
Regendering care in the aftermath of recession
Caring about male caregiving
Reflecting on regendering care at different scales
Oh sorry, I’ve muted you!’
Inviting intimacy
Collapsing the Boundaries? Fatherhood, Organization and Home-Working
Critical considerations of workplace flexibility “for all” and gendered outcomes
The Awkward Spaces of Fathering
Where’s dad? Exploring the low take-up of inclusive parenting policies in the UK
Negotiating space
Shared Parental Leave
The only thing missing now is her being on the outside
Urban Homebodies
Motherhood, mobility and materiality
Negotiating 'ideal worker' and intensive mothering ideologies
What (Else) Matters? Policy Contexts, Emotional Geographies
Fathering and Faltering
Travelling in your backyard
Masculinity and Child Care
Cold intimacies' in parents' negotiations of work-family practices and parental leave
I Feel Like It's a Little Bit of a Badge of Honor
Parenting
Policy is not enough - the influence of the gendered workplace on fathers' use of parental leave in Sweden
Barriers to equality
If I [Take] Leave, Will You Stay? Paternity Leave and Relationship Stability
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |