The spirit is willing, but the system is weak
Erstellt von Hans-Georg Nelles am Donnerstag 10. Mai 2007
Die Frage, warum die neuen Väter in allen Umfragen die Mehrheit stellen, in der Realität aber bislang wenig sichtbar sind, stellt sich nicht nur hierzulande.
Brian Reid, Autor des rebeldad Blogs und Gastschreiber im OnBalance Blog der Washington Post sucht in seinem Beitrag ‚With Workplace Help, Dads Would Step Up More’ ebenfalls nach Antworten:
I have been vexed by the question of why dads haven’t started doing more sooner, and I found an answer of sorts in the American Prospect essay by Kathleen Gerson that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Gerson suggests that young men today come into relationships with egalitarian ideals — just like the surveys suggest – but fall back into a “neotraditional arrangement” when they hit the modern realities of “rigid, time-demanding jobs and a dearth of child-care or family-leave options block the path to such a goal.”
Basically, the spirit is willing, but the system is weak. There is a reasonable debate to be had about whether more “family-friendly” policies will just exacerbate gender gaps (because women will be more likely to use them at a cost of career advancement), but Gerson’s theory, coupled with the refreshing idealism of young dads, suggests otherwise — that dads are ready to step up to the plate, if only the workplace would allow for it.
