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Book launch of Katherine Twamley's Caring is Sharing?
26 November 2024
5.30pm for a 6pm start; refreshments will be available
Room G03, Ground Floor, Social Research Institute, IOE, UCL, 55-59 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0NU
NB: the entrance to 55-59 Gordon Square is on the corner with Woburn Sq. and not on Gordon Square itself
Hosted by the UCL Sociology Network. This event is to launch the latest book by Professor Katherine Twamley (Social Research Institute, UCL).
Caring is Sharing? explores why and how mixed-sex couples make decisions around parental leave at the transition to parenthood, and how these decisions shape their work and family care practices during and after the leave period. It does this through a longitudinal qualitative comparative analysis of mixed-sex parent couples in England who do and do not share parental leave after the birth of their first child. The study shows that men and women’s visions and practices of family life are embedded in ideals of appropriate intimate relations, and negotiated with real and imagined reactions from peers, wider family and colleagues. These negotiations are often deeply emotional and shape how parents navigate the wider institutional and structural context in the UK, where parental leave policy, family and work norms are highly gendered. In so doing, it highlights the intersections of intimacy and equality, contributing to debate around the ‘stalled’ gender revolution and what is needed if UK parental leave policy is to become an effective driver of change in gender relations and family life.
Meet our speakers and chair:
- Katherine Twamley (author), Professor of Sociology at the Social Research Institute, University College London.
- Jacqui Gabb (discussant), Professor of Sociology and Intimacy, Open University
- Margaret O’Brien (discussant), Professor of Child and Family Policy, UCL
Jo Swinson (chair), Director, Partners for a New Economy