Husbands Breaking Out of Captivity of Gender Roles through Continuous Involvement in Housework and Child-rearing: An Examination of the Consciousness Transformation of Househusbands

<p>To elucidate the process through which househusbands, who continuously engage in housework and child-rearing, transcend gender stereotypes and free themselves from the constraints of traditional gender roles, this study interviewed 16 househusbands and analyzed the responses using M-GTA. Results revealed that the subconscious of each man and woman, and the unconscious biases contained within organizations, schools, and local communities contribute to gender role captivity. Furthermore, to free themselves from societal gender captivity, husbands must undertake the following measures: (i) increase the quality and quantity of information exchange within the partnership while assuming the responsibility of solitary parenting; (ii) confront the gender captivity inherent in society in order to uncover their unconscious biases; (iii) acquire new social support systems, such as househusband communities; and (iv) undergo a “paradigm shift” in their way of thinking. Additionally, it has been suggested that husbands' ongoing participation in housework and child-rearing may result in a cognitive transformation of their domestic role as work to an understanding of diversity and a transformation to flexible thinking.</p><p>【Research Impact】</p><p>This study found that the extremely sluggish progress in Japanese households regarding the participation of husbands in child-rearing and housework can be attributed to the gender captivity of both the spouses. We gained insight into the psychology of men who fight for balance between work and family from a novel vantage perspective that was not previously found in studies of male development in adulthood.</p>