ABSTRACT
In the social sciences, the debate on changes in gender roles has to a high degree centred on changes in the female gender role and on the fact that in the Western world women, and especially mothers with small children, have increased their participation in paid work in recent decades. This chapter focuses on changes in the male gender role, if any, and the question to be discussed is to what degree men have taken on some of the responsibilities formerly regarded as belonging to women. In the East European countries the question of men sharing responsibility for childcare has only recently been raised. From a typically sociological view on the division of labour between men and women, gender roles may be considered as giving a variety of opportunities, and experiences for learning different types of rationality. The chapter examines some recent changes in national policies concerning paternal rights in relation to childcare.
