Halving it All

Using vivid quotations from the interviews she conducted, Francine Deutsch tells the story of couples who share parenting equally, and some who don't. The differences between the groups are not in politics, education, or class, but in the way each negotiates issues.

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Francine Deutsch argues that the best way to have it all - both a full family life and a career - is to halve it all. She comes to this conclusion having interviewed a wide range of couples. Deutsch casts a skeptical eye on the grim story of inequality that has been told since women found themselves working a second shift at home. Using vivid quotations from her interviews, Deutsch tells the story of couples who share parenting equally, and some who don't. The differences between the groups are not in politics, education, or class, but in the way each negotiates the large and small issues - from whose paid job is "important" to who applies the sunscreen. With the majority of mothers in the workforce, parents today have to find ways of sharing the work at home. Rigid ideas of "good mothers" and "good fathers", Deutsch argues, can be transformed into a more flexible reality - the good parent.