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Themed Section on Young Fatherhood: Lived experiences and policy challenges
Introduction
The entry into fatherhood is a major life course transition involving the fashioning of a new identity and the take up of new responsibilities. For young fathers (aged twenty-five and under, the majority of whom live in socially disadvantaged circumstances (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010)), this transition may be unplanned and involve a variety of challenges. Drawing on an ESRC funded study of young fatherhood in the UK, this article explores young fathers' aspirations to provide financially and materially for their children (the 'breadwinner' role). We chart their very different education, employment and training ('EET' or conversely 'NEET') pathways over time, illustrating how these are linked to their pre-existing socio-economic circumstances. The policy implications of the findings are considered in the light of a normative framework that assumes that early parenthood causes social deprivation, and a welfare framework that regards the needs of young people as a low priority (France, 2008).
'Breadwinner' ideologies
Providing financial and material support for children has traditionally been seen as the defining feature of fatherhood, while primary caring responsibilities reside with mothers (Roy, 2004). Earning and caring have always been shared by parents to varying degrees, creating a more fluid picture than these traditional models imply, and giving rise to newer ideologies based on a 'cash and care' model of parenting (Speak, 2006; Miller, 2011). Nevertheless, the ideological, default framework remains a gendered one. Fathering continues to be mediated through mothers who are gatekeepers to their children. Paid work and provisioning for a household and family continue to be bound up with ideas of adult masculine identity, status and reputation, particularly within working class households (Roberts, 2013). The cultural stereotype of the male breadwinner tends to be reinforced in the UK through a variety of policy and legislative frameworks that take an 'economic view' of fathering. Not providing for their family is a key characteristic of the absent 'bad father' that can be seen in some UK policies and wider public discourses (Miller, 2011). Whatever factors may lead to refinements in parental roles over time, fathers are likely to start from an imperative to earn, (with some discretion over when, where, and how they care), while mothers...