Men’s business, women’s work: gender influences and fathers’ smoking

To further understand men’s continued smoking during their partner’s pregnancy and the postpartum period, a study was undertaken to explore women’s perspectives of men’s smoking. Using a gender lens, a thematic analysis of transcribed interviews with 27 women was completed. Women’s constructions of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociology of health & illness 2010-05, Vol.32 (4), p.583-596
Main Authors: Bottorff, Joan L., Oliffe, John L., Kelly, Mary T., Greaves, Lorraine, Johnson, Joy L., Ponic, Pamela, Chan, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
British Columbia
Conflict
Fathers
Female
Females
Femininity
Gender
gender relations
Gender studies
Harm Reduction
Health promotion
Humans
Influence
Interpersonal Relations
Interviews as Topic
Male
Males
Middle Aged
mothers
Pregnancy
Sex
Sex Factors
Smoking
Sociology
Sociology of health and medicine
Women's health
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To further understand men’s continued smoking during their partner’s pregnancy and the postpartum period, a study was undertaken to explore women’s perspectives of men’s smoking. Using a gender lens, a thematic analysis of transcribed interviews with 27 women was completed. Women’s constructions of men’s smoking and linkages to masculine and feminine ideals are described. The findings highlight the ways women position themselves both as defenders and regulators of men’s smoking. Femininities that aligned women with hegemonic masculine principles underpinned their roles in relation to men’s smoking and presented challenges in influencing their partner’s tobacco reduction. By positioning the decision to quit smoking as a man’s solitary pursuit, women reduced potential relationship conflict and managed to maintain their identity as a supportive partner. Insights from this study provide direction for developing gender‐specific tobacco reduction initiatives targeting expectant and new fathers. Indeed, a lack of intervention aimed at encouraging men’s tobacco reduction has the potential to increase relationship tensions, and inadvertently maintain pressure on women to regulate fathers’ smoking. This study illustrates how gender‐based analyses can provide new directions for men’s health promotion programmes and policies.
ISSN:0141-9889
1467-9566
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01234.x