“It's a real war zone” – questioning the bourgeois gendered and gendering division of labour

This chapter analyses how financial sector demands are often experienced as incompatible with family life, leading men to question fundamental structures of bourgeois society. The “war zone” between economic and private spheres manifests how the gendered division of labour can create communication failures, intensify masculine job identification and burden family relationships through workplace stress. The analysis examines generational differences in accepting versus challenging traditional arrangements and shows how new fatherhood ideals and women’s economic independence enable some men to prioritise family over career demands and fundamentally question masculine supremacy claims.