0000000000636625
AUTHOR
Katja Repo
Negotiating parenting practices: the arguments and justifications of Finnish couples
This article explores Finnish different-sex couples’ (n = 12) negotiations on their parental division of labour. Theoretically, the article is based on the literature on gendered parenting practices and relational negotiations. Our discourse analysis reveals how the couples produced ‘togetherness’ and ‘our family’ by representing their care practices as agreements, irrespective of whether the care was described as equally shared or distinctly gendered. Disagreements reflecting more individualistic tones, and mainly resulting from the mothers’ sense of unfairness, were especially foregrounded when the distribution of household duties was discussed. The analysis also revealed how men cited in…
‘Ordinary’ and ‘diverse’ families : A case study of family discourses by Finnish early childhood education and care administrators
The increased family diversity is a major global trend. Although family configurations are also diverse in contemporary Finland, it has been argued that Finnish family policies and institutional understanding of family life continues to focus on the heteronormative two-parent family with a native Finnish background. To address this issue, we analysed Finnish family discourses through qualitative interviews with early childhood education and care administrators (n = 47), applying a discourse analytic framework. Our results suggest that families are discussed through two divergent but interwoven discourses, i.e. the discourse of ordinary families and that of diverse families. The former focus…
Unravelling conceptualizations of (in)equality in early childhood education and care system
Early childhood education’s role in increasing equality in society has been highlighted by international organizations. However, it is unclear what is meant by the concept of equality in different situations, as the meaning fluctuates and reflects the cultural political contexts in which it is embedded. In this paper, we analyse the equality discourses of local early childhood education and care (ECEC) policymakers in Finland, drawing on different conceptualizations of equality and social justice. In doing so, we show that the way in which equality is conceptualized differs – along with the suggested remedies – depending on whether the subjects of equality are adults, children at the border…
Lasten kotihoito ja sen taloudellinen tukeminen: kunnallisten luottamushenkilöiden näkökulma
Artikkelissa kysytään, miten lasten kotihoidosta ja sen tukemisesta keskustellaan paikallisesti. Kun-nat tuottavat lasten kotihoidon merkityksellistämiselle erityisen kontekstin. Kunnat vastaavat niin varhaiskasvatuspalvelujen järjestämisestä kuin lasten kotihoidon tuen rahoittamisesta kuitenkin niin, että oikeus kotihoidon tukeen syntyy palveluun kytkeytyvän oikeuden käyttämättä jättämisestä. Analyysi pohjautuu 32 kunnallisen luottamushenkilön haastatteluun. Haastattelut toteutettiin kym-menessä kunnassa keväällä 2016. Analyysi paikantaa aineistosta kehysanalyysin keinoin kaksi lasten kotihoitoa merkityksellistävää tulkintakehystä: talous-rationaalisen ja kulttuuris-normatiivisen tul-kinta…