Abstract
This developmental paper explores how fathers navigate work and family in the light of shifting ideals of fatherhood. The contemporary ideal of fathers as co-parents taking on an equal share of childrearing and household tasks seems to be at odds with organizational expectations of men as ideal workers unencumbered by obligations outside the workplace. The limited research on fathers points to various negative consequences fathers face when striving to be involved with caregiving. The punitive behaviours facing fathers if seeking access to family-friendly policies have included extrinsic penalties such as lower wages or fewer promotions and social penalties such as ostracism or stigmatization, with fear being a commonly experienced emotion. Some professional fathers have been found to maintain their fatherhood in secret to avoid these negative consequences. My study with an inductive qualitative design aims at shedding light on the possibilities of combining involved fatherhood and work in the context of Finland, a Nordic welfare state, where the dual-earner family model and shared parenting have long been supported. The semi-structured interviews are designed to provide rich data on the experiences of professional fathers as they navigate work and family, focusing on aspects such as how involved fathering is experienced in relation to work, identity dynamics of fathers, how organizations can either support or hinder involved fathering, dynamics of fathers’ psychological contracts and how the roles fathers take impact their spouses’ careers. It is envisaged that an increased understanding of the possibilities, along with obstacles faced by fathers in the workplace facilitates improved organizational and management practices for working parents, while also enabling a reduction in gendered inequalities.