Outline Policy & research context Aims of project and data - - PDF document

19/06/2013 1 Fathers, work and families in twenty- first century Britain: beyond the breadwinner model?

Margaret O’Brien Svetlana Speight, Sara Connolly, Matt Aldrich, Eloise Poole 18 June 2013, OU

Outline

• Policy & research context
• Aims of project and data sources
• Profiling UK Fathers: fatherhood status and definitions.

Dealing with Complexity: bio, social, non-resident

• Profiling of UK fathers’ working patterns Time trends in

employment status and hours 2001-2011; continuity and change across different family types

Policy & Research Context

“ In a rapidly changing world, we will continue witnessing the growing momentum and recognition of the importance of men for gender equality, reconciling work-family life and impacting the future of their children” Men in Families and Family Policy in a Changing World Report 2011 New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ family/docs/men-in-families.pdf

19/06/2013 2

Inter-disciplinary conceptual framework for understanding change and continuity in men’s family and work roles

• Awareness that the family unit is undergoing a transition from

a traditional unitary model based on a male dominant economic actor towards a different logic with less specialization

• f roles by gender (Becker, 1981; Browning et al, 2011).
• New norms redefining family life are emerging – “a gender-

equality equilibrium” – but are unstable (Esping-Anderson, 2009).

• A multidimensional approach to men’s parenting activities or

“father involvement” with direct and indirect influences of paternal capital on child and family wellbeing (Pleck, 2010)

• Awareness that public policy measures, such as parental leave

and flexible working schedules, have a profound effect on how much time children get to spend with their parents (Gornick & Meyers, 2009; Lewis, 2009).

Aims of the study

1. To provide a comprehensive profiling of fathers in 21st century Britain in terms of their paid work and family life. 2. To explore factors associated with differences in fathers’ paid work and family life. 3. To analyse time trends in fathers’ working patterns to explore effects of policy changes. 4. To explore the role of institutional factors, by comparing the UK with other European countries.

Data

1. Understanding society, wave 1 (2009-10) and wave 2 (2010-11). 2. EU Labour Force Survey (2000-current) 3. European Social Survey, round 2 (2004-05) and round 5 (2010-11) 4. British Household Panel Survey, all 18 waves (1991-2009)

19/06/2013 3

Fatherhood

• Fathers v ‘non-fathers’
• Biological v social father
• Resident v non-resident father

Typology of fathers

19/06/2013 4

Fathers co-resident with dependent children

20 40 60 80 100 Step Foster Adopted Biological 94 1 0.4 11 Base: fathers co-resident with dependent children (n=5,556)

Bio v non-bio

96 87 2 7 2 6 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Lone fathers Couple fathers Bio only Bio and non-bio Non-bio only

19/06/2013 5

Resident v non-resident father

Whether has a non-resident child <16

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Non-father Father, no dependent children Father, dependent children, lone Father, dependent children, couple All men 16+ Base: all men aged 16+ (n=20,663)

Non-resident fathers

More likely to be:

• <45 years old (compared with 45+)
• Living without a partner
• Less well educated
• Not in paid work
• NS-SEC group - routine occupations
• In rented accommodation

19/06/2013 6

Whether non-resident fathers are co-resident with any dependent children

Base: fathers who have non-resident children under 16 (n=1,053)

27% 2% 24% 46%

Has resident children and is in a couple Has resident children - lone father No resident children and is single No resident children and is in a couple

Contact with non-resident children

10 11 5 11 22 25 14 2 21 4 17 19 17 8 3 10 No contact Few times a year A few times a year Several times a month Once a week Several times a week Almost every day 50/50 Non-resident child/ren only Resident and non-resident children Base: fathers who have non-resident children under 16 (n=1,050)

Fathers’ working patterns

19/06/2013 7

EU- LFS 2001-2011

• Adult couple households with dependent children

(2011 20,569 couple households of which 6,092 have at least one child under the age of 15 living in the household)

• Age restriction on the household reference

person – 16-64 years

• Employment status FT = 30 hours or more per

week PT = <30 hours per week

• Definitions of working hours "usual" weekly hours

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Other Neither working Male sole PT earner*** Female sole PT earner Dual PT*** Female sole FT earner** Male sole FT earner FFT and MPT*** MFT and FPT*** MFT and FFT** Other 0.5 worker 1 FTE worker 1.5 FTE workers 2 FTE workers % of households

Working patterns of couple households with dependent children

2001 2011

Significant change between 2001 and 2011 at * 10%, ** 5% and *** 1% level

43 44 45 46 47 48 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Average usual hours in main job

Working hours of men working FT in couple households with dependent children

19/06/2013 8

43 44 45 46 47 48 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Average usual hours in main job

Working hours of men working FT in couple households with dependent children by family type

MFT and FFT*** MFT and FPT*** Male sole FT earner*** All FT*** 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Average usual hours in main job

Working hours of women working FT in couple households with dependent children by family type

MFT and FFT FFT and MPT Female sole FT earner All FT 15 16 17 18 19 20 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Average usual hours in main job

Working hours of women working PT in couple households with dependent children by family type

MFT and FPT** Dual PT Female sole PT earner* All PT

19/06/2013 9

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 % working 48 or more hours per week

Incidence of long (≥48) working hours of parents in couple households with dependent children

Father dual earner hh*** Father 1.5 earner hh*** Male sole earner hh*** All full-time fathers*** Mother dual earner hh Mother 1.5 earner hh Female sole earner hh All full-time mothers 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 % working 60 or more hours per week

Incidence of long (≥ 60) working hours of parents in couple households with dependent children

Father dual earner hh*** Father 1.5 earner hh** Male sole earner hh All full-time fathers*** Mother dual earner hh Mother 1.5 earner hh Female sole earner hh All full-time mothers

Thank you

• Prof. Margaret O’Brien (UEA) – M.O-brien@uea.ac.uk

Dr Svetlana Speight (NatCen Social Research) Svetlana.Speight@natcen.ac.uk Dr Sara Connolly (UEA) – Sara.Connolly@uea.ac.uk Dr Matt Aldrich (UEA) – Matthew.Aldrich@uea.ac.uk Eloise Poole (NatCen) – Eloise.Poole@natcen.ac.uk