Men, fathers and work: the challenge of reconciliation. Case studies in some Italian companies

The issue of changing male - and father identity - has become relevant alongside with the large transformations in contemporary society (demographic shifts, changings in the labour market, transformation of gender role and family structures…). So, the traditional differentiation between male and female tasks and responsibility (men more related to the work domain and women to the private home) is no longer sustainable and needs to be reconsidered. Several empirical studies highlight, in fact, a transformation of the father role, both in Italy and in the wider international context, which implies a “more involved” and “new” father style. Nevertheless, the strong relation with job remain a pivotal trait shaping men identity, especially in Italy. In this context, the paper is aimed to present findings from a research on working fathers, conduced in Italy between April 2010 and February 2011 aimed to understand how men consider their parental role in relation with their work. The hypothesis that guides this research is that the expression of father's role and the father identity are strongly influenced by the workplace (company culture, the representation of men as fathers and the reconciliations measures) as well as the maternal role. In particular, 3 company-case studies has been carried out, using a qualitative research techniques, with interviewsboth at managerial level and at employees level. In total, 45 interviews has been done: semi-structured interviews with managers focused on corporate culture and narrative interviews with employees (fathers with young children) focused on the transition to fatherhood. This qualitative study reveals the importance of the intergenerational component and the relation with the mother as well as the work: the contemporary fathers identity is shaped in relation with the previous generation, the maternal role and the work place.