Halving It All: Equally Shared Parenting Works

Gender & Society; Thousand Oaks; Jun 2000; Mary Lou Wylie;
Volume: 14
Issue: 3
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485-487
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ISSN: 0891243
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Abstract:
"Halving It All: Equally Shared Parenting Works" by Francine M. Deutsch is reviewed.
Full Text:
Copyright Sage Publications, Inc. Jun
2000
Halving It All: How Equally Shared Parenting Works. By Francine M. Deutsch. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999, 327 pp.,
$24.95 (cloth).
Deutsch has written an interesting report of her research on the division of parenting duties in various families. The book is written to make
the research accessible to the general public and to provide supportive suggestions to couples wanting to share parenting. Deutsch, a
psychologist, integrates the sociological and psychological literature in the area of dual-- worker marriages and the "second shift:' She also
integrates the rich information of case studies with insightful discussion of broad social issues. Since the research methods are described in
an appendix and all citations are included in notes at the end of the book, it is easy for a nonacademic audience to read the work without
getting caught up in previous literature or research limitations. However, all of the information is there and easily available to an academic
reader wanting to grapple with those issues. Most of the participants are white, but a high proportion of the participants are in working-class
occupations. Deutsch is careful to address issues of social class in many of the discussions.
Two of the early chapters discuss how couples create equality or inequality in the division of parenting responsibilities. Deutsch
acknowledges the structural elements that encourage women to accept primary responsibility for parenting duties. However, she emphasizes
that equality and inequality develop in the day-to-day struggles in families about how to manage. She explains that the division of labor can
and often does change over time, and it is not due solely to personality, jobs, friends, or beliefs, although all of those factors can have an
impact. She also emphasizes that there is more than one pattern of equality.
In the chapter on "Fighting over Practice and Principle," Deutsch examines the strategies that women and men use to negotiate equality or
inequality. The issues that affect women's negotiations include financial contributions, work strikes, the desire for children, equal
entitlement to the pursuit of a career, principles of equality, and the threat of divorce. Men's strategies include passive resistance,
incompetence, praise, different standards, and denial. Both men and women might deal with the changes that occur by readjusting their
expectations and comparisons. For example, a woman in a situation of inequality might consider that her husband does more of the second
shift than many other men, instead of comparing his amount of the second shift to hers.
Deutsch discusses the social structure of parenthood in U.S. society. She examines this structure in terms of double standards for mothers
and fathers, social expectations of inequality, and unequal praise. She points out that equal sharers have to address these differences as they
construct alternative social worlds. Deutsch also discusses the impact of biology. Although many unequal sharers use biology as their
justification, the equal sharers have managed to overcome any seemingly obvious biological limitations to inequality. For example, Deutsch
explains three approaches to breast-feeding that equal sharers use: deference, substitution, and compensation. She also discusses the biased
evidence that unequal sharers claim as "natural" and use to justify their inequality.
Both equal and unequal sharers discuss career detours and identities as parents and professionals. Although job demands are often used to
justify inequality, many of the couples have been able to make changes in their jobs that allow equality to flourish. Equal earnings may
make it easier for couples to negotiate and establish equal parenting, but it is not necessary for equality, and it certainly does not guarantee
equality. Equal sharing does allow both men and women to expand their identities as parents and workers, as they also give up some of their
traditional gender identities.
Deutsch devotes one chapter to an examination of the sharing strategies of couples who work alternating shifts. Although couples with
alternating shifts generally support a traditional ideology, they practice a nontraditional life. Both parents identify the breadwinner's role as
that of the father and the central parent as that of the mother. However, women have become more committed to their work roles than in a
true traditional family, and both parents generally argue for a reasonably equal family life.
Deutsch also examines what factors come into play as couples' behavior varies from their beliefs. Couples consider children's needs,
question the use of day care, and find ways to live with contradictions. She concludes the book by arguing that equality in parental labor is
dif ficult to achieve in U.S. society but that the rewards are great.
Overall, Deutsch does make clear that the division of the labor of parenting is a choice that each individual couple makes. She also points
out that a choice is not made once and for all but will continue to come up as situations change. She argues that equality is a result not just
of ideology or economics but of negotiations, decisions, and behaviors about daily life. Much of the current research emphasizes pay
inequity, childhood socialization, and patriarchal society in determining gender inequality in parenting. Deutsch argues that couples
themselves play a large role in determining equality or inequality in parenting by making choices, manipulating responsibilities; and
changing what they do as parents.
This is a book that would have a strong appeal to undergraduate students. It is well written, very readable, and full of rich descriptions of
choices that couples have made and justifications they have used for those choices. It combines a good research report with issues that can
be used by couples to work their way toward equality in parenting. Rather than indicate that equality is hopeless until we have corrected all
of the social ills contributing to inequality, Deutsch has focused on everyday choices and behaviors that can help a couple create equality in
their parenting. I sometimes wanted a stronger acknowledgment of the impact of the social structure on the division of parental labor, but
Deutsch's micro-level view provides a nice complement to a strongly structural perspective. The book is valuable for all sociologists
interested in division of Family labor, as well as for students and the general public with an interest in the issue. I recommend this book,
particularly for use in a class on family or gender. [Author note]MARY LOU WYLIE James Madison University