Marley, Lauren2024-05-022024-05-022024-05http://hdl.handle.net/10222/84190Social Anthropology Honours Thesis, 2024There is an abundance of research on maternity leave in terms of economic impacts, gendered impacts, and health but there is less research on qualitative experiences of returning from leave and navigating a career while being a parent. Further, with parental leave available to both men and women in Canada, it is necessary to study how this leave impacts careers and gender division of labour. In this study, I focus on the experience of doctors returning from parental leave as it offers a comparison across one profession to analyze gendered differences and how these playout in the careers and domestic roles of people. Through eight semi-structured interviews I asked about experiences returning to work and how the domestic sphere impacts the work sphere. After analyzing the data thematically, I found that men and women have very different experiences that ultimately lead to women becoming the primary parent and having a harder experience at work and men feeling pressure to prioritize work. While it is possible for men to step more into the parenting role, they seem unwilling to and take on the traditional gender roles of men as breadwinners. In this study, it becomes clear that workplaces, specifically hospitals in Ontario have the potential to make the transition to work easier for women, especially for women pumping breast milk at work.Text