"Det är inte så enkelt som man trott" : En kvalitativ studie om småbarnsföräldrars önskan att leva jämställt och spänningsfältet mellan ideal och praktik

Sammanfattning: “It’s not as simple as one thought” – a qualitive study of parents of young children with the wish to achieve equal parenting and the tension between ideal Sweden is seen as the most gender equal country in Europe and gender equality is a stated goal. Yet there is a gap between ideal and practice, which is seen when focusing on e.g. equal parenting. It is clear that women take greater responsibility for children and the home and this is e.g. seen in the statistics on parental leave. The purpose of this study was to examine how parents of young children, with the wish to achieve equal parenting, described their experience from every day life and also the tension between the ideal of equal parenting and the practice. Five qualitative semi-structured interviews took place. The interviewees were both fathers and mothers with a desire to reach equal pareting. The study used Yvonne Hirdman's theory of gender and the gender system together with a social constructivist point of view. Some of the parents were experiencing a tension between their ideal of gender equality before having the child and the acctual outcome of parenting. An active work to maintain or reach gender equality was described. It seemed as if the parents did not maintain this active work, the main responsibility for the child/children ended up on the mother, who was described as the number one parent. The fathers situation was described as vague and frustrating. A compromise between the ideal and the practice took form where the parents both took responsibility for the child/children and home, although the mother got more “childtime” and the father ended up taking care of the home, along with the mother.