SHARED CUSTODY AND SYMMETRY IN GENDER ROLES: new challenges for gender equality

Abstract

Family mediates between society and the individual. It has its own logic, its time constraints, space and mythology that adapt to variable socioeconomic conditions. On the other hand contemporary Occidental societies are notorious for their capacity to integrate new cultural practices, even those that originally opposed mainstream norms. Family is also of course a locus of gender relations. The emergence of joint custody as a counter-cultural practice underlined the normalization of conjugal separation and divorce but also the desire to parent in symmetrical rather than differentiated gender roles. In Québec joint custody has in sorts become a model for gender equality, influencing parenting roles and gender relations even in intact families. But does the emergence of joint custody as a cultural model signify a reduction of gender inequalities in  the  family?  This  paper  will  analyze  recent  transformations  of  heterosexual  parental roles  basing  itself  on  empirical  data  of  recent  research  in  Québec  (Côté,  2000;  2004; 2006  ;  2010;  2012).  The  new  family  model  based  on  an  idealization  of  joint  custody integrates contemporary conceptions of the family as a group of individuals united by choice  and  negotiation  rather  than  marriage  and  duty.  It  also  accommodates  recent evolutions  of  gender  :  fluidity  of  identities  and  roles,  plurality  of  experiences,  and increased  mobility  for  women.  But  contrary  to  common  myths,  this  modernization  of domestic space based on symmetrical parental and gender roles also creates new types of  regulations  and  gender  constraints  that  perpetuate  and  “modernize”  inequalities. These will be presented and analyzed.