We know what men want - or do we? Insidious processes that maintain the powerful impact of traditional norms on men’s work-family choices.

While much has changed for women with regard to work-family (W-F) arrangements in past decades, much less has changed for men. Men’s lower family care participation also impacts women on the work front, presenting a remaining barrier for gender equality. Despite men’s clear lower care participation, almost all of the focus in science and policy has gone to addressing the lower work participation of women. In the current proposal we shift this focus to address the care gap, and focus in particular on men. We take the perspective of the employee and examine the implicit and explicit messages men are receiving within organizations, and the impact of these messages on W-F choices. For this analysis we combine social psychological and sociological/work-organizational perspectives, to understand the world from the perspective of the individual in context, and identify the underlying mechanisms that maintain W-F gender gaps. We start with a consideration of the role of masculine organizational climates in men’s perceptions of what is possible with regard to W-F roles, and then examine three mechanisms by which climates may affect W-F choices.

Keywords:Masculinity concerns, Work-Family roles, Gender, Care roles, Norms

Disciplines:Group and interpersonal processes