ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights specific sets of tensions families navigate, and discusses the set of strategies they adopt. It explores the manifestation, effects and implications of power and gender dynamics, from the earliest work in family decision-making (FDM) to more recent research on contemporary, non-traditional families. Research in FDM or household decision-making (HDM) has typically focused on the family member or partner that has the most influence in making the decision of what, when and where to purchase or consume a particular good or service. Although gender roles have been shifting, research suggests that myths such as breadwinner father or the homemaker mother, and gender discourses of care still underlie how men and women navigate the marketplace while they engage in everyday practices to construct their family. In a study of a contemporary family structure, Harrison, Gentry and Commuri looked at single fathers and how they construct a caring fatherhood model within the cultural background of traditional gender roles.
