Bonnie Fox

Bio: Bonnie Fox is an academic researcher from University of Toronto. The author has contributed to research in topics: Sociology of the family & Restructuring. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 19 publications receiving 639 citations.

When Couples Become Parents: The Creation of Gender in the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract: When couples make the journey through their first year of parenthood they confront the challenges of their new responsibilities with varying degrees of support and a range of personal resources. When Couples Become Parents examines the ways in which divisions based on gender both evolve and are challenged by heterosexual couples from late pregnancy through early parenthood. Following the experiences of forty heterosexual couples in various socio-economic positions, Bonnie Fox traces the intricate interplay of social and material resources in the negotiations that occur between partners, the resulting divisions of paid and unpaid work in their families, and the dynamics in their relationships. Exploring the diverse reactions of these women and men, When Couples Become Parents provides significant insights into the early stages of parenthood, the limitations of nuclear families, and the gender inequalities that often develop with parenthood.

REVISITING THE CRITIQUE OF MEDICALIZED CHILDBIRTH A Contribution to the Sociology of Birth

Abstract: Based on interviews with 40 first-time mothers, the authors develop an argument that supplements the critique of medicalized childbirth by focusing on the social context in which women give birth. Particularly important about that context is women's privatized responsibility for babies' well-being, and a dearth of social supports for mothering, including the sharing of that responsibility by fathers. Contextualizing childbirth in this way makes clearer not only why many women are favorable toward medical intervention but also the decisions women make during hospital births. The women we interviewed displayed widely ranging reactions to giving birth in the hospital. Describing their experiences, these women often emphasized pain and anxiety. Both conditions appear to have been relieved as effectively by social support as by medical assistance. Furthermore, women who had generally supportive partners were less likely to receive medical intervention during the birth and less likely to suffer postpartum depre...

The formative years: How parenthood creates gender

Abstract: Cet article presente les conclusions d'une etude qui traite d'une serie d'entrevues en profondeur de couples heterosexuals en voie de devenir parents. Le but de l'etude etait de mieux comprendre comment le fait de devenir parents produit des differences dans les roles attribues aux sexes et des inegalites entre eux. En se concentrant sur les relations sociales changeantes de la maternite, la discussion tourne autour de quatre ajustements dans la vie de la femme: l'ap-propriation des responsabilites maternelles, les negotiations qui determinent comment la femme et l'homme entreprennent leur role de mere et de pere; le developpement d'une division des travaux menagers moins equilibree; revolution d'une vie sociale centree d'avantage sur la famille; et le renouvellement des relations entre la femme et sa mere. This paper presents findings from a study involving a series of in-depth interviews of heterosexual couples as they made the transition to parenthood. The study was aimed at understanding how parenthood produces gender differences and inequalities. Focussing on the changing social relations of motherhood, the discussion revolves around four changes in women's lives: the assumption of the responsibilities of motherhood and the negotiations that shape how women mother (and how men father); the development of a more unbalanced division of household work; the evolution of a more family-focussed social life; and the renewal of women's relationships with their mothers.

Embodied Motherhood: Women’s Feelings about Their Postpartum Bodies

Abstract: Based on in-depth interviews, this article examines a sample of 48 Canadian women’s feelings about their changed postpartum bodies, their sense of self, and the factors that affect both. Our findings suggest that understanding women’s postpartum feelings requires contextualizing them in the work of infant care and women’s life circumstances, as well as ideologies about mothering and feminine appearance. Motherhood afforded the women in this study a new appreciation of their bodies, and a positive embodied sense of themselves, but only if they felt their bodies performed maternal functions well. Concerns about appearance persisted and became especially salient when women faced the return to paid work. Moreover, varied life circumstances influenced women’s overall feelings about their changed bodies as insecurities were displaced onto women’s body images.

Occupational gender segregation of the Canadian labour force, 1931–1981

Abstract: Nous presentom ici une Ptude des changements au sein du march6 du travail en ce qui a trait la segregation sexuelle. L'article debute avec des considerations sur la nature de la segregation sexuelle, puis un survol de la recherche canadienne et amPricaine i ce sujet. Notre analyse utilise les categories ocupationnelles du recensement, que nous pairons pour les recensements de 1931 i 1981. Les resultats de l'analyse montrent que le degre de segregation est demeurk trPs eleve jusqu'i la fin de la periode Ptudiee, bien qu'une certaine baisse soit enregistree dans les annees 1960 et 1970. Le pourcentage des travailleursl ewes occupant des emplois presque entiPrement skgrkgues a diminue. Cette tendance est plus marquee pour les emplois occupCs par des hommes que pour ceux occupPs par des femmes. Ainsi, la raison principale de la baisse du degre de segregation entre 1971 et 1981 semble Otre I'entree par un nombre significatif de femmes dans des occupations qui Ctaient jusque-la presque exclusivement masculines. Nous Ctablissons une liste des occupations ainsi towhees. Following a discussion of the nature of gender segregation in paid work, and a review of American and Canadian research on the topic, we assess changes in gender segregation in the paid labour force, using census occupational categories, which were matched for adjacent pairs of censuses from 1931 to 1981. We find that gender segregation remained very high through 1981, although there was some decline in the 1960s and 1970s. There was also a decrease in the percentages of women and (especially) men in occupations almost entirely composed of same-gender workers. The chief reason for the decline in segregation between 1971 and 1981 appears to be the significant numbers of women who entered occupations that were formerly almost exclusively male. We list major occupations that are changing in this manner.

Paradoxes of gender

Abstract: In this innovative book, a well-known feminist and sociologist-who is also the founding editor of Gender & Society-challenges our most basic assumptions about gender. Judith Lorber argues that gender is wholly a product of socialization, subject to human agency, organization, and interpretation, and that it is a social institution comparable to the economy, the family, and religion in its significance and consequences. Calling into question the inevitability and necessity of gender, she envisions a society structured for equality, where no gender, racial ethnic, or social class group is allowed to monopolize positions of power.

How Involved Is Involved Fathering? An Exploration of the Contemporary Culture of Fatherhood

Abstract: While popular cultural representations portray the “new father” of the past two decades as more involved, more nurturing, and capable of coparenting, many argue that actual fathering conduct has not kept pace. Others, however, question the extent to which the culture of fatherhood does indeed support involved fathering and, if so, what this involvement entails. This study aims to contribute to the exploration of the culture of fatherhood through an analysis of a yearlong Canadian newspaper series dedicated to family issues. Findings suggest that through representations of parental guilt, parental responsibility, work—family balance issues, and hegemonic masculinity, mothers continue to be positioned as primary parents. Support for father involvement, to the extent that it exists, occurs within the framework of fathers as part-time, secondary parents whose relationship with children remains less important than mothers'.

Varieties of Patriarchy and Violence Against Women: Resurrecting "Patriarchy" as a Theoretical Tool

Abstract: Feminist scholars have produced abundant writings on violence against women, yet theory development has stagnated. The effort to construct a theory of patriarchy to explain violence against women was derailed by criticism. In this article, the author addresses some of these criticisms, uncovers the explanatory strengths of this concept, and lays some foundations for a more fully developed theory of violence against women. The concept of patriarchy holds promise for theorizing violence against women because it keeps the theoretical focus on dominance, gender, and power. It also anchors the problem of violence against women in social conditions, rather than individual attributes.

Cradle of the Middle Class: The Family in Oneida County, New York, 1790-1865

Abstract: Preface Introduction: locating domesticity 1. Family, community, and the frontier generation, 1790-1820 2. Family in transition: the revival cycle, 1813-1838 3. The era of association: between family and society, 1825-1845 4. Privacy and the making of the self-made man: family strategies of the middle class at midcentury 5. A sphere is not a home: woman's larger place in the city at midcentury Conclusion Appendices Notes Sources and select bibliography Index.

Gender, work and migration: Deskilling chinese immigrant women in Canada

Abstract: The Chinese have constituted the largest immigrant group entering Canada since 1987. This paper focuses on the paid work experience of Chinese immigrant women from Hong Kong and Mainland China who were highly educated, skilled professionals in their home country. It demonstrates that these immigrant women are being deskilled in Canada and this deskilling is complicated by the contradictory processes of globalization and economic restructuring, with its polarizing effects along axis of gender, race, ethnicity, class and citizenship. Gendered and racialized institutional processes in the form of state policies and practices, professional accreditation systems, employers' requirement for “Canadian experience” and labor market conditions marginalize Chinese immigrant women. As a result, they are being channeled into menial, part-time, insecure positions or becoming unemployed. In order for Chinese immigrant women to become equal and active participants in Canadian society the provision of inclusive programs and policies is necessary.