Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Meaning and Evaluation of Fathers in the Professional Workplace

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1332633 Melissa Milkie Kathleen Denny University of Maryland College Park All else being equal, fathers earn more than childless men and all women in the professional workplace, a phenomenon referred to as the "fatherhood wage premium." Moreover, survey research shows that certain fathers, namely those who are married, white, and highly involved with their children, are privileged over others. Individual-level explanations, such as positive selection and productivity, do not fully explain fathers' earnings advantage or variation in that advantage. Employer bias is often cited, though rarely empirically examined, as an important factor responsible for privileging fathers over non-fathers and certain fathers over others in the professional workplace. This dissertation project examines the contours of father preference in the workplace and attends to several critical gaps in our understanding of how, why, and which fathers are advantaged in the workplace. The primary research objectives are to analyze: (1) how fathers' level of involvement with their children is evaluated in the professional workplace; (2) how level of involvement is evaluated for fathers of different racial/ethnic backgrounds; (3) how fathers of different racial/ethnic backgrounds are evaluated without involvement level specified; and (4) how employer characteristics, including gender, race, and parental status, influence evaluations of fathers in the professional workplace. The study addresses these objectives through an experimental vignette study and a semi-structured interview study. The experiment examines how a representative sample of employed adults evaluates fathers in the context of the professional workplace. The semi-structured interview study augments the experiment by interviewing employers to determine the meanings, assumptions and stereotypes held about fathers in the workplace. This research is expected to contribute both theoretically and empirically to multiple literatures. Specifically, the sociological fatherhood wage premium literature will benefit from a clarification of the consequential yet poorly understood role of employer bias that perpetuates a pattern of workplace inequality. Further, the research is poised to challenge the broader literature on the theory of the "ideal worker." By empirically analyzing variation in what constitutes an ideal worker who is favored and privileged in the professional workplace, this research has the potential to transform our taken-for-granted understanding of who embodies the ideal worker and why. Broader Impacts Findings from the proposed study will be useful both within and outside of academia. Within the academic literature, the project will contribute to our understanding of certain advantage hierarchies in the workplace. The research will also serve applied and practical purposes given its overall focus on gender- and race-based workplace bias and discrimination. With effective publicizing and circulation of results, this research has the potential to induce action and encourage organizations to seriously assess their own workplace patterns and practices. In doing so, project results are expected to bring critical yet likely largely unperceived sources of workplace inequality to light within and across workplaces.