Graduation Semester and Year

2020

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Planning and Public Policy

Department

Public Administration

First Advisor

Rod Hissong

Abstract

This study seeks to understand how paid family leave laws influence traditional gender roles and stereotypes. The mother homemaker/father breadwinner narrative, a prominent concept within feminist circles, assumes particular gendered roles that include women’s responsibility for unpaid labor within the home. The implications of these gendered roles leave women in an economically disadvantaged position. Given the media’s influence in policy making and function to echo current social values, this study utilizes the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to investigate how the media frames these policies, and whether that framing helps to dismantle traditional gender narratives. This study finds that as these policies are debated, passed, and finally utilized by individuals the media increasingly presents the issue of paid family leave in a fashion that challenges traditional gender roles assumed by the mother homemaker/father breadwinner narrative. This research contributes to the literature on state level paid family leave, a relatively new phenomenon in the U.S. and often-overlooked subject in policy studies, as well as, extends the use of the NPF. Feminists and gender advocates will find the degendering of unpaid labor in media coverage an advancement of the feminist cause. Gender equality advocates should use these findings as evidence for the continued push for paid family leave policies in additional U.S. states.

Keywords

Paid family leave policies, FMLA, State paid leave policy, Qualitative, Content analysis, Narrative policy frameworks, NPF, Feminist theory, Feminism, Gender equality, Gender narratives, Gender performance, Media frames, Media influence, Egalitarian policy

Disciplines

Public Affairs | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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