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This chapter focusses on the lack of research about fathers raising autistic children. It begins by presenting the results in the Braunstein, Peniston, Perelman, and Cassano (2013) study, which showed that there is not much research about fathers raising autistic children compared to mothers raising autistic children. Some of the key issues in research about these fathers, such as paternal experiences of raising an autistic child, are then presented. Several areas where more research can be conducted in the future are then outlined. These suggestions are based on the limitations in the examined studies and consequently what types of research could be conducted to address these limitations. Addressing such gaps can only occur if there are strategies that can be used to recruit fathers into autism research. To this end, some of the main recommendations in Davison et al.'s study about how to recruit fathers into studies are presented.

The original contribution that this chapter makes to the field of autism spectrum research is to explain areas where there is a lack of research about fathers raising autistic children as well as potential strategies that can be used to stimulate their interest in participating in such research.

Effective collaboration with families when a child has chronic illness or disability involves the participation of all family members. Through a review of recent literature, this chapter provides a snapshot into the unique experiences and perspectives of fathers and siblings, exploring roles, and responsibilities often assumed by each, such as protector, advocate, teacher, and caretaker. Professionals are invited to build greater awareness of the unique insights fathers and siblings can contribute to program planning. Strategies to build partnerships that benefit all family members are suggested.

Recent qualitative social research about Mexican families and gender relations underlines the fact that changes in male involvement in domestic life have occurred and that significant changes in paternal responsibilities have been reported, especially among younger fathers with high educational levels and living in urban settings. Significant lags have also been detected in rural and indigenous communities regarding women’s status and the reduction of gender gaps.

On the basis of this, we analysed data from the 2014 National Time Use Survey of Mexico in order to determine whether there are significant differences in the time spent on child raising between rural and urban fathers. We also used a regression model to measure the effect of the place of residence and other socio-demographic characteristics on Mexican fathers’ level of involvement in raising their children.

Our results updated the indicators on the generational change in fathers’ collaboration in childcare and show that fathers living in urban settings are more involved – measured in time effectively spent in child raising than their rural counterparts. Furthermore, the occupations of fathers and especially that of mothers are of particular interest as factors that encourage or discourage greater male involvement in child raising.

Most studies on work–life support at workplaces consider work–life balance to be a women’s issue, either explicitly or implicitly. This chapter analyses how fathers who are involved caregivers are supported or hindered in attaining work–life balance by their workplaces. It explores the following three questions: (1) why fathers value some job adaptations over others compared with mothers; (2) how organizational cultures influence the work–life balance of new fathers and (3) what differences exist across public and private sectors as well as large versus small companies. A qualitative approach with three discussion groups and 22 involved fathers enables us to explore these issues for large companies, public sector workplaces and small businesses. We find that tight time schedules, flextime, telework, schedule control and fully paid nontransferable leaves of absence constitute policies that favor involved fatherhood, while measures without wage replacement generate fear of penalization in the workplace and do not fit the persistent relevance of the provider role. In addition, un-similar supervisors, envy, lack of understanding and gender stereotypes among co-workers and clients constitute cultural barriers at the workplace level. Contrary to our expectations, small businesses may offer a better work–life balance than large companies, while the public sector is not always as family-friendly as assumed.

The goal of this chapter is to analyse the factors that might have affected the gender division of labour in Japan by investigating the interaction between policies, culture and practices on gender equality and fathers’ involvement in childcare, and examine whether there is possibility of moving towards a more equal share of paid work and care as in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. To achieve this goal, the chapter explores the changes in the discourse of experts and policy makers on the role of fathers and mothers in the care of children, legislation aimed at the resolution of the gendered division of labour and larger involvement of fathers in childcare and the resultant change (or persistence) in individual attitudes and practices of fathers and mothers.

The overview of the changes in Japan suggests that the culture, institutions, and practices related to fathers’ involvement in childcare interact with each other at different paces and bring a greater involvement of fathers in childcare.

However, the preceding increase in fathers’ time in childcare and housework still only results in a much shorter time than fathers spend in most of the European countries. Although, the rapid increase after 2010 in the proportion of mothers who continue to work after childbearing may trigger a breakthrough in the persistent gendered division of labour in Japan, this would also require other components of gender arrangements such as effective regulation of working time.

Purpose – This chapter investigates fathers who have both biological and social children from different relationships in order to examine how they prioritize between their children, both in theory and in practice.

Methodology – Interviews were conducted with 57 low-income fathers in Oakland experiencing multiple-partner fertility.

Findings – These fathers used nine criteria to prioritize children: timing of life course interruptions, distance, formal child support, desirability of the pregnancy, restraining orders, other resources available to the child, age of the child, gender of the child, and the child's reaching-out behavior.

Research implications – These fathers distribute finite resources of time and money using priority-ordered queuing. This method allowed them to maximize their impact by focusing on a small number of children, rather than having their scarce resources become so diffuse that they became virtually meaningless.

Practical implications – These fathers utilized priority-ordered queuing, in contrast to the equal-distribution queuing method preferred by child support enforcement agencies. The difference in queuing model preference may explain fathers’ noncompliance with child support orders.

Value – In contrast with previous research findings, this chapter finds that these fathers were more likely to be simultaneously “good fathers” and “bad fathers” to different children at the same time, rather than one or the other (Furstenberg, 1988). This chapter also demonstrates a novel use of queuing theory for family research.

Realizing gender equality and parenthood still seems to be a contradictory endeavour. In consequence, family policies in Europe focus on paternal involvement and increasing women’s participation in the labour market. Nevertheless, consequences of gender pay gap on family arrangements still set limits to these policies.

This chapter reveals results of qualitative research on paternal leave practices and fathers’ involvement in the family in Austria. The empirical data set includes 36 guided interviews with fathers on paternal leave, 12 with female partners, 16 with human resources managers and 14 follow-up questionings with part-time working men and women. The research investigates effects of long-term leave arrangements on the distribution of family work, gainful employment and individual interests.

Mainly best practice models in undoing gender in family and work arrangements are explored. Subsequently, a high proportion of good earning fathers and couples with tertiary education are represented in the sample. Nevertheless, quantitative studies in Austria confirm higher proportions of fathers aged 40 plus on paternal leave. They take this decision mainly as a ‘tribute to the family’, once or twice in a life-time.

However, long-term care data on work-family-life balancing currently do not show significant changes in gendered patterns. By contrast, gender disparities are still reproduced in the labour market. Theoretically, the chapter shows the impact of gender studies, feminist theories and sociology of the family on realizing gender equality in private and public spheres. It outlines recommendations for family policy makers and for readers interested in relations between realizing work–life balance and gender budgeting.

This chapter addresses a five-year phase of protest activity set in motion by fathers’ rights and shared parenting groups’ resistance to the Federal Child Support Guidelines, which were incorporated into Canada’s Divorce Act in 1997. Drawing upon Department of Justice discourses, parliamentary hearings and debates, and advocacy websites it examines the dynamics and outcomes of the protest cycle. It argues that the government’s legislative response signals a failure of fathers’ rights activism in Canada. This failure is a consequence of the collective identity that advocates and their supporters enact and celebrate in various public arenas, the effectiveness of feminist counteraction, and the contingencies of governance in Canada’s left-of-centre advanced liberal democracy.

This paper investigates why mothers are losing to fathers in contested child custody battles that have occurred between 1980 and 2003. It employs quantitative, qualitative, and contextual strategies to understand the complex set of forces involved. The findings suggest that single mothers and children are increasingly trapped in a war zone between cost conscious policymakers ideologically opposed to the welfare state, angry fathers shouldering the burden of a shift from public to private transfers of funding in the form of child support, religious zealots intent on turning back the clock to a mythical patriarchal Eden, and the legal doctrine of gender neutrality reflecting these political forces.