Introduction

The other chapters in this section have provided an insight into how Norwegian-born fathers have used parental leave to develop their fathering practices. These chapters, that span several decades, demonstrate that fathers, from being anxious to maintain their sense of masculinity, have incorporated masculinity into their caring practices and used parental leave as an opportunity to develop and grow as competent caregivers. Fathers’ time with their children includes the routine tasks of childcare but also nurturing and emotional bonding. We have seen how staying home alone on leave influences fathering practices differently than if the mother is also at home, and that today fathers incorporate housework into their practices when on leave.

In this chapter we explore how immigrant men frame themselves as fathers in the context of parental leave taking. As seen in Chapter 3, migrants are new to the Norwegian welfare state, but they take parental leave and value it positively despite the gender normative expectations embedded in it. We ask to what extent integration makes them practise caregiving in line with current political and social discourses of fathering – what is culturally understood as ‘proper’ ways to be fathers in Norway where men's involvement with their children comes in addition to their role as financial provider.

Transnational theories emphasize the multiplicity of migrants’ belongings, and transnational ties have often been assumed to represent obstacles to successful integration (Erdal and Oeppen, 2013; Bell, 2016). However, integration and transnational ties need not be at odds with each other, but rather represent ‘a balancing act of migrants who can access opportunities – but who may also have responsibilities – in two or more countries’ (Erdal and Oeppen, 2013: 868). There are many positions in the literature about the relationship between transnationalism and integration, and the ‘pragmatic approach’ seems to be the most dominant. This approach understands relations between integration and transnationalism as social processes with migrants as actors with agency (Erdal and Oeppen, 2013: 877). An illustration of this approach may be Hoel's (2013) study of middle-class fathers from predominantly Muslim countries. Exploring their fathering practices, including the use of the father's quota, she finds that they act in accordance with the ideals of ‘involved fatherhood’. They frame the father's quota as an opportunity to be with their children and think that it is important that they do so.