Men in caring occupations and the postfeminist gender regime

This chapter explores how postfeminism as a cultural discourse is implicated in men’s mobilisation and co-optation of femininity in caring occupations. As postfeminism has contributed to the valorisation of the feminine, men now comfortably engage with the femininity of caring jobs alongside the continued enactment of masculine behaviours. We see this new ‘hybridity’ characterised by the calibration of masculine & feminine behaviours as emblematic of a postfeminist gender regime. While this may herald a new cultural era of gender relations, it does not mean the erosion of masculine power but, rather, indicates a reassembly of privilege in less identifiable forms.