1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«Following our previous work on fathers and parenting [...], we wanted to study parenthood as experienced by fathers and look into the situation observed since the implementation [in 2006] of the new paternity leave reserved for fathers.» (p. 69)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«Two main issues are central to our analysis: What have fathers experienced and felt while they were alone with their child at home during parental/paternity leave? And how does this experience affect their life, their career and the gendered division of labour within the family?» (p. 69)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«[T]he [26] fathers who took parental/paternity leave alone with the child come from different professional groups: liberal professions (10) managers (3), white collar workers (7), blue collar workers (4) and self-employed (2). […] Fathers are 25-41 years of age; they are married or in common law unions (25/26), and one father is separated (1/26). The number of children per household varies from one to three; nine out of 26 fathers have a child 10–24 months old; 14 out of 26 have two children, ages ranging from 1 to 12 years; in the other households there is at least one child aged between 1 and 3 years. […] As concerns the income of fathers and mothers, 14 fathers out of 26 say they have a gross annual income superior to their wives and 12 fathers say their wife’s income is higher than theirs.» (p. 74-77)

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«For the majority of fathers who have opted for the combination of paternity and parental leave, when the mother returns to work and stops breastfeeding, this is the time for them to take up their full role of father and stay with the child alone.» (p. 85) «Throughout the period of leave alone with the child, fathers reported experiencing strong emotions that have enabled them to acquire skills and attitudes they had not known they could master, such as: trust, adaptation, patience, stress management, letting go and so on.» (p. 79) «[W]ith the emergence of non-transferable paternity leave and parental leave sharing, there has clearly been a movement towards more modern types of fathers, in comparison with the period before the introduction of this leave (Tremblay 2003). While we found many innovative and independent or subversive fathers, we added the profile of the activist and innovators, as some Quebec fathers are real militants for the role of father and advocate for the recognition of a parenting role for fathers. Those who mentioned difficulties in the workplace, and more generally in the public sphere, were really very annoyed about the situation and tended to take on a militant attitude, hoping to change these realities.» (p. 85)