Is fatherhood allowed? : Media discourses of fatherhood in organizational life

Abstract

It has been claimed that in the context of organizations and management, fathers are invisible. One source of tension for fathers who work and who want to participate in family life is that even though involved fatherhood is emerging in many western societies, a family‐oriented male identity is likely to be problematic for men in organizations. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of a professional and managerial men's work–family relationship using discourse analysis on data from three different media sources in Finland, published during 1990–2015. We identified two competing discourses: one of stasis, the other of change. The stasis discourse is constructed around traditionally masculine management and fatherhood roles, while the changing discourse embodies more diverse masculinities and fatherhood. We conclude that although the discourse on fatherhood in the organizational context is moving towards gender equality, at the same time a strong discourse is putting a brake on such development, especially regarding management.