Representations of ‘fatherhood’ and ‘parenting’ in the British Press: The case of the ‘Home Dad’

Background: This paper sets out to consider discourses around parenting, specifically fatherhood, in the British press. Despite societal discourses for ‘involved fatherhood’, researchers have claimed that when it comes to parenting, we consider the role of the mother to be paramount. Methods: An in-depth media analysis on the depiction of ‘fathers’, and ‘parenting’ in the British Press was undertaken. An initial thematic analysis was performed, which was subject to a further discourse analysis to examine dominant discourses. Findings: The findings illuminated tensions between competing masculinities and societal norms. The analysis demonstrated that breadwinning discourses around fatherhood were still evident, and, whilst there was mention of coparenting, the mother as caregiving parent was the dominant discourse. Discussion: As social policy related toparenting changes, reaching an in-depth understanding of contemporary fatherhood and its representations in the British Press are essential in order to challenge current societal constructions of gender norms