Policemen on Leave Alone in Spain. A Rift in Hegemonic Masculinity?

Caring fatherhood in very traditional and masculinized environments has been under-researched. This study analyzed the experience of Spanish policemen who used parental leave to care for their babies alone while their partners returned to paid work. The aim was to ascertain whether use of parental leaves under those circumstances favors the development of caring masculinity. The qualitative methodology deployed consisted in semi-structured interviews conducted in 2014 with a sample of 15 policemen who took parental leave alone for at least 4 weeks while their partners returned to paid work. More specifically, the analysis addressed the respondents' discourse on the justification of their decision to engage in this type of childcare, the workplace reaction to the decision, and their experience when fathering alone. The findings suggest that, even though hegemonic masculinity persisted in part of these fathers' discourse and experience, engagement in such innovative practice tended to narrow the divide between traditional and caring masculinity. The conclusion drawn is that encouraging fathers to take leave to care for their children alone is a useful tool for furthering caring masculinity in highly masculinized environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]