| abstract
| - Downsizing masculinity is the effect on the hegemonic male identity when the man has lost his job or role as provider for his family due to loss of a stable wage. The ability to provide for both children and wife is an important aspect of fatherhood. Nicholas Townsend’s research suggests four aspects of fatherhood, those being emotional closeness, endowment, protection, and provision. The male’s sense of self worth is very dependent upon his capability to provide and protect his offspring. By holding an income earning job the father earns prestige and respect amongst his peers and family as well. There is the desire to strive to meet the culturally approved ideal of fatherhood, which is mostly developed around the ability of the father to provide for the family through employment. When men hold the role as an employed, providing father they are contributing to an accepted American cultural standard. Which in turn, helps to mold and create the hegemonic masculine identity. Upstanding men in America are not only expected to raise a family, but to be a knowledgeable, leader and provider for the family. By doing so they have secured their role as a contributing force to society. The sense of responsibility that comes with upbringing a family creates a pressure on the father. And when the man has previously been able to provide and then suddenly loses that resource his ability to function as an expected responsible male of society is challenged. This culturally constructed division of labor creates an identity as breadwinner (provider) for the father and nurturer for the mother. Work is a key component in fatherhood. In every year since 1960, more than 95 percent of married men aged twenty-five to forty-five have been in the labor force. When the father no longer has the means to provide, the distinction between gender roles of the parents are blurred. Due to the demands of work and the need to provide for the family, the actual face-to-face contact between father and child is limited. The father must sacrifice desired time with his family in order to assure that he is doing his implied role as a father by providing financial resources for the family survive. If the father can entirely provide for the family then the mother's role as a nurturer can fully flourish. The strict gender division of breadwinner and nurturer for the father and mother, respectively, is blurred when the mother is suddenly forced to look for work herself in order to maintain the lifestyle the family had become accustomed to with the man's stable income. When the male provider loses his job and does not have the nine-to-five time constraints, suddenly the children are greeted by their father. The male’s masculine identity is further insulted when the reliance on financial resources is shifted to the wife as, not only can he not find work, but must depend on a woman to hold the family together. If the need for the children to help contribute to the family for survival the man’s As men become fathers, they are faced with newfound responsibilities that dramatically come into play in the formation one’s new identity as a father. And as they take on the role and weight of responsibilities, one’s peers and coworkers take him more seriously. Conversely, when the father loses his job, his peers see him as being irresponsible and letting down the family. Men that are able to hold the role as a successful income jobs not only maintain a stable providing role for the family but also help the family gain access to resources (educational, material, social) that further promote his identity as a successful father, and therefore, is viewed as a contributing masculine male in society. Being that the majority and accepted standard of a good father in the United States is one that holds a steady income allowing for provision for his offspring and wife, it only illuminates those fathers that have lost their jobs causing more scrutiny and stress both within the family and the societal gaze as well. Although the father may be too preoccupied with work to provide direct care for his children, if he is capable to be the sole breadwinner for the family the father is enabling for parental care as the mother is able to commit the majority of her time to care for the children and tend to the house instead of paid work. Also many fathers consider their financial contributions as caring for the children in that it enables the family to purchase necessary material goods (books, clothing, food). Ironically, the father becomes closer to his children from his ability provide which requires him to be both physically and emotionally distant as he dedicates his time to his work rather than direct contact with the family. Women in the family take a less aggressive role and are expected to tend and focus on the domestic responsibilities of raising a family. While the mother is prominently contributing as a caregiver, it is not to say that the father is completely disregarded in this area. But as social constructs enforce, the father mostly provides care through his financial contributions as a wage earner. Furthermore, the father is also expected to provide worldly knowledge for his offspring. Because the children only see their mother in the context of the home, they associate her with being knowledgeable on domestic topics. Contrarily, the father when holding a successful full time job is seen as worldly. The providing male must go outside of the home to acquire his financial resources for the family. This absence from the home allows him access to worldly knowledge that the mother and children do not have. Consequently, the children seek the wisdom of the father on science, economics and political affairs. The family then projects an image of the father as an all-knowing, resourceful role model and when he is faced with unemployment the family unit wavers and questions the man they thought to be holding the family together. Fathers are expected to take on the role as breadwinner in order for the mother of the family to take on the role as nurturer. Ideally, it is assumed that the husband will be able to earn enough so that the wife may stay at home and care for the children. Not only does this domestic division establish duties and responsibility but also, due to the demand of time from employment, face-to-face time the father has with the children is clearly determined and limited. Since the father devotes his time to work and the mother is expected to rear and nurture, it is reasonable to assume that she is the one spending the most time in contact with the children. Therefore, the father only has limited time to establish and maintain a relationship with his children. When the father is faced with unemployment, his availability and presence at the home is greatly increased creating a contradicting image of the father for the children. One obvious advantage in the father’s unemployment is the opportunity for the father to spend the extra time to build a relationship and develop emotional closeness between father and child, which would not have been possible with the previous time constraints of work. However, with this newfound availability and closeness the children question their father’s masculinity. His increased face-to-face time is unfamiliar causing a disturbance to the former father image as formed by the children. Also, social pressures cause the children to compare their father with those of their peers that are still devoting their hours at work. While the shared time is valued it also exposes the difference in social status of employed versus unemployed fathers. Furthermore, because this sort of relationship is culturally considered to be more feminine and motherly, the father’s masculine identity is once again challenged. Not only does the loss of wage and role as breadwinner challenges the male’s hegemonic masculine identity but if the man is forced to take on work that is not deemed as manly or laborious, his masculinity as understood by society is questioned. A main contributor in the father’s masculine identity is his capability to do work that is laborious and physically demanding. Male employment as a construction worker, factory work, and mechanic strongly reinforce the ideal of a strong masculine identity. These physically demanding jobs historically have been employed by men and require strength and determination therefore become highly associated with the masculine identity. The hard work and determination that are required to hold a laborious job further enforce the masculine identity.
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