Inclusive primary maternal concern:

a new place for the father

Abstract

This article deals with the predominant feelings and expectations of mothers regarding the participation and partnership of their partner, the child’s father, in the care of the baby. Based on the data collected in our qualitative field research, following women from pregnancy to the postpartum period, we observed that, in the context of Rio de Janeiro’s middle class, in which men and women shared the role of family support, the care of the offspring, traditionally a female responsibility, becomes a masculine assignment too, at least in the expectation of women-mothers. The support they expect from the man-father is not only based on the place of the third, a sustenance of the mother-baby pair, but it is also in his availability for sensitive opening to the baby, sharing with the woman the delicate task of letting to be affected by the other and offer sensitive care. Finally, we consider the implications of this new place for the father in the marital and family relationship.