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Fatherhood and Parenting Involvement among Unemployed Men: Comparing Turkish Fathers in Germany and Turkey

Social norms and cultural expectations for fathers have changed considerably in many countries, including Germany and Turkey. In general, fathers are expected to be more involved in the upbringing of their children. At the same time, gender relations are known to re-traditionalize once couples become parents. Women still spend more time with their children and work less than fathers. This gap is more distinct in Turkish families in Turkey and Germany than in German families. These dynamic changes and tensions in families are subject to a growing field of sociological research on fatherhood to which the here described pilot study contributes. This study examines whether and how the re-traditionalization in the family is challenged if the father is unemployed or earning much less money than the mother. This question becomes particularly interesting in a cross-cultural and migrational perspective: How does the cultural context influence the way of fathers` reacting to their unemployment? In particular, fathers with a migrational background live in an environment, in which very different models of fathering are potentially available. How are they perceived and adopted - or rejected?


Duration: 2023-2024
Funding: DAAD & TÜBITAK (Programmes for Project-Related Personal Exchange)
Responsible for the project: Zeynep Kapısız, Prof. Dr. Anna Sieben (University of St. Gallen)


Cooperation partners in Turkey:
Prof. Dr. Nebi Sümer, Sabancı University
Prof. Dr. Umut Beşpınar, Middle East Technical University
Dr. Zeynep Beşpınar, Marmara University