Beyond breadwinning: Livelihood insecurity, paternal identity, and family economic meaning after community skills training

Positive employment responses can obscure livelihood uncertainty and the meanings fathers attach to provision. This qualitative descriptive study analysed complete interview and focus-group transcripts checked against the recordings, supported by descriptive records concerning 25 Filipino fathers who completed a community electrical skills training programme. The analysis identified four categories: financial precarity and provider-role strain; threatened paternal identity and perceived household voice; conditions surrounding electrical-skills use; and confidence expressed through skills application and community contribution. Difficulty providing was associated with shame, inadequacy, family stress, and withdrawal. Assistance in instruction, devices, and local referrals were aspects of learning and skills usage accounts, while confidence and usefulness were mentioned in association with irregular income. All 25 accounts had positive employment responses, but the descriptions that came along were about current employment and future opportunities. The positive employment responses did not result in stable income or an employment rate. It was impossible to correlate survey and qualitative identifiers, so the results represent the context of the programme. The study identifies distinct economic and relational concerns that a binary employment item leaves unresolved. Evaluation of community skills initiatives should examine work continuity, opportunities to use skills, and fathers' meanings of contribution, with care and household decision-making assessed directly.

Keywords: fatherhood; masculinities; provider role; livelihood insecurity; vocational training; Philippines