Making men matter: exploring gender roles in prenatal blood screening

摘要

Men's involvement in pregnancy has become an increasing area of interest in research on gender and reproduction. However, little attention has been given to men's roles when their partners are undergoing prenatal screening. Drawing on the findings of qualitative research with pregnant women and their male partners in a northern city in the UK, this paper aims to explore the increasing significance of men's roles in prenatal blood screening. Findings reveal that men occupy a range of important roles in screening both as supporters of their pregnant partners and as potential fathers. They also revealed however that men's participation is often inhibited by existing institutional and organisational factors including the attitudes of health professionals and workplace norms, both of which continue to be influenced by traditional gender role ideology. The paper concludes by arguing that pregnant women and their male partners therefore find themselves caught in a gender paradox whereby the desire for greater equality in pregnancy and screening has yet to be fully realised in practice.View full textDownload full textKeywordsprenatal screening, men, fathers, gender rolesRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2011.542020