Nathan Hegedus weist in seinem Blog Dispatches from Daddyland auf einen Artikel in der New York Times zum ‘gatekeeping‘ durch Mütter hin, der in der vergangenen Woche erschienen ist.

‚”As much as mothers want their partners to be involved with their children, experts say they often unintentionally discourage men from doing so. Because mothering is their realm, some women micromanage fathers and expect them to do things their way, said Marsha Kline Pruett, a professor at the Smith College School for Social Work at Smith College and a co-author of the new book Partnership Parenting, with her husband, the child psychiatrist Dr. Kyle Pruett .’

Yet a mother’s support of the father turns out to be a critical factor in his involvement with their children, experts say — even when a couple is divorced.”

Anschließend liefert er eine schöne Definition von ‘gatekeeping’ und beschreibt die Tore und ihre Wächterinnen  in Schweden.

“What is gatekeeping? Essentially it is when mothers do not let fathers fully participate in child raising (and then complain the dads are not involved). It is only one piece of a most complicated parenting puzzle, but I love seeing it get some big play. …

Men have only started taking long parental leave in Sweden in recent years. And there are all kinds of stereotypes still – they only take the summer months, they drop back into old habits the moment they go back to work and so on. The gates are still high in Sweden. But all this paternity leave has to make a difference. In 10 years, maybe the gates will have opened a bit. …”

Quelle