eCite Digital Repository
Separated Parents Reproducing and Undoing Gender Through Defining Legitimate Uses of Child Support
Citation
Natalier, K and Hewitt, B, Separated Parents Reproducing and Undoing Gender Through Defining Legitimate Uses of Child Support, Gender and Society, 28, (6) pp. 904-925. ISSN 0891-2432 (2014) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2014 The Authors
DOI: doi:10.1177/0891243214546933
Abstract
The use of child support is a politically and personally contested issue and a policy
challenge across developed countries. This offers an opportunity to identify family practices
and relationships through which hegemonic masculinity and socially valued femininities
are reproduced and challenged. We present data from interviews with 28 fathers
and 30 mothers to argue that when people discuss how child support is or should be
spent, they are managing gendered parenting identities. Most fathers defined child support
as "special money." This position buttresses the hegemonic masculine characteristics
of authority and breadwinning, discursively de-genders the care of children, and
challenges mothers’ conformity to feminine and good mothering ideals. A minority of
fathers presented an alternative definition of child support and fathering that underplayed
the relevance of money and values mothers’ and fathers’ care and financial
contributions. Mothers’ accounts of using child support emphasized their financial
authority and child-centered consumption in ways that both challenge and reproduce
socially valued femininity. We conclude that definitions of how child support should be
used reproduce relationships of dominance and subordination that constitute the gender
order.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | Hegemonic masculinity; femininities; fathering; mothering; child support |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Sociology |
Research Field: | Sociology not elsewhere classified |
Objective Division: | Culture and Society |
Objective Group: | Other culture and society |
Objective Field: | Other culture and society not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Natalier, K (Dr Kristin Natalier) |
ID Code: | 97284 |
Year Published: | 2014 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 16 |
Deposited By: | School of Social Sciences |
Deposited On: | 2014-12-10 |
Last Modified: | 2015-05-06 |
Downloads: | 0 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page