Understanding ‘Gender Equality’: First-Time Parent Couples’ Practices and Perspectives on Working and Caring Post-Parenthood

This article explores the ways couples making the transition to parenthood think about, practise, and assess ‘gender equality’. The analysis draws on data from two qualitative, longitudinal projects in the UK with 36 mixed-sex couples, grounded in the sociology of intimacy and parenting culture respectively. Both projects explore gender relations at the transition to parenthood, with recent changes in UK parental leave as a backdrop, to interrogate couples’ ideals and practices. In this article, we outline four configurations of equality articulated by couples: ‘symmetry’, ‘breaking gender stereotypes’, ‘fairness’, and ‘equality as respect’, which were developed through collaborative analysis. We explore how different configurations shape gendered practices in early parenthood. The analysis provides novel insights into the ways in which ‘gender equality’ is differentially defined and practised; shaped by the political and cultural context in which parents live; and relational in nature – thereby contributing to debates around equality in gendered divisions of paid and unpaid work.