Gender equality or just more involved fathering? A critical examination of the division of childcare in Hong Kong’s professional middle-class families

Abstract

The ideals of paternal involvement in childcare have become evermore celebrated in Hong Kong and elsewhere, but are these signs of a new form of gender equality in the family? Based on in-depth interviews with professional middle-class families in Hong Kong, our findings suggest not. Although mothers’ expectations of paternal involvement, privileged class positions and assistance from domestic helpers have contributed to increased father’s engagement, we are not seeing gender-equal parenting emerging in these families. Instead, compared to mothers, fathers exercise more flexibility over which and when to perform parenting tasks, spend lesser time on childcare, have greater decision-making power in the major aspects of their children’s lives, and their financial provision is considered more important in both parents’ construction of fatherhood. To condone the unequal division of childcare and gender relations, we show couples’ endorsement of an ideology of ‘complementary differences’. Our analysis of the co-constructions and negotiations between both parents underscore the mutual influences that spouses have on each other. Moreover, by paying attention to the class, social and cultural dimensions of parenting, we reveal how well-resourced, liberal Chinese families prioritize family harmony and children’s development to the extent that gender inequalities in childcare are tolerable and trivialized.

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