Men may experience unemployment in mid-life as a
double failure, since they are unable to meet two
central demands of the masculine role: being
employed; and ‘providing’ for the family. One
explanation for the lower suicide risk among women
is their greater involvement in childrearing and the
higher societal recognition/status accorded to their
role as mother (compared to the role of father).
Despite changing discourses of fatherhood, working
class men still consider providing for the family as
most important, with the hands-on work of caring
for children seen as non-masculine.