Fatherhood, the Gender Revolution and the 2nd Demographic Transition
This presentation interprets recent work on family trends in industrialized societies based on the two halves of the gender revolution, first in the public sphere and then in the private sphere, and relates them to recent studies of father involvement. This interpretation is compared with the narrative associated with the second demographic transition (SDT), centering on how each views the importance of gender and intergenerational relationships in people’s lives. Although the family trends these two approaches attempt to interpret are ongoing, and a convincing view of the phenomenon as a whole has not yet emerged clearly, the gender approach, focussing in particular on the positive impacts of the growth of men’s roles in the family, seems to be the more fruitful one.
