ABSTRACT
Gender, leisure and the family are established themes for leisure studies. As identified in this volume, a rich body of evidence has firmly situated the family as a critical site for leisure (Kelly, 1997; Rapoport and Rapoport, 1975; Roberts, 1970) and feminist critique has repeatedly demonstrated the family as a location for gendered leisure conflict (for example, Deem, 1986; Green, Hebron and Woodward, 1990; Henderson, Bialeschki, Shaw and Freysinger, 1996; Wimbush and Talbot, 1988). Despite this heritage, understanding fatherhood is a relatively new pursuit for leisure scholarship. Contrary to the state of knowledge on motherhood, substantial empirical and theoretical gaps exist in accounting for the relationships between men, their roles as fathers and their leisure lives. This is notwithstanding considerable contemporary emphasis on the role of the ‘new man’ in the home, debate about the value of fathers as role models for boys and young men and popular discussion about fathers as active ‘involved’ parents (Eichler, 1997; Forna, 1998; Gavanas, 2004). Fatherhood has become ever more scrutinised in the context of shifting socio-political values that place upon men the dilemma of aligning themselves with socially approved principles of gender equity and maintaining a sense of masculinity (Doherty, Kouneski and Erickson, 1998; Coakley, this volume). It is rarely noted that within this dilemma lies leisure. So dominant is the historical tie between fatherhood and ‘breadwinning’ that leisure as a site for constructing and reconstructing a fatherhood identity is frequently overlooked.
