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Is ex-Premier David Bartlett the father of the future?

By Kristin Natalier - posted Tuesday, 8 February 2011


And here, David Bartlett becomes a case study in the privileges that underpin men’s decisions to step back from paid work. He is in a position to respond to his child’s needs. He can afford to take a pay-cut and negotiate a new role in his organisation. He has chosen to make changes, rather than having them thrust upon him through unemployment, under-employment, illness or a failure of child-care. Bartlett has presented his decision as a choice but this is not a choice that is available to many.

Bartlett’s decision is a reminder of the possibilities of fathering but not a trigger for real change in the family-work nexus in politics and elsewhere.

In 2001, John Howard described work-family balance as barbeque stopper. Eleven years on, it feels the barbeques are fewer and farther between. The presence or absence of parental leave or flex-time doesn’t hurt efforts to pull fathers into family life, but these are not enough.

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We need to challenge the idea that work matters more than families. We must recognise that the difficulties of fathering reflect and shape those of being a mother.

Facilitating mothering and fathering is not a zero-sum game but a way of supporting men and women to find ways to best way to meet the needs of their children and themselves.

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About the Author

Dr Kristin Natalier is a lecturer in the School of Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania.

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