Fathers in a Dual-Wage Family if Media

Fathers in a Dual-Wage Family

If media ever managed to convince you that fathers in a dual-wage family are now as involved in child rearing and nurturing as mothers, it is high time you consult some important research findings for a reality check. While fathers have definitely started sharing household and child-rearing responsibilities, the percentage of their involvement is dismally low.

As mothers continue to increase their involvement in outside paid employment, fathers are required to share family work equally with women so that both can spend equal amount of time at work and home. Unfortunately, this has not been the case as women's participation in the workforce increased. Fathers spend far less time with children than mothers do. Mothers almost do double the work in a dual-wage family as men's involvement in household chores increases at snail's pace. According to research, while women in two-salary homes spend 90 hours at work and home responsibilities, men spend only 50 hours doing the same, which shows that women do 95% more work than their male counterparts in such homes. Putting it simply, fathers offer to help out at home only when "it is convenient" (Lamb) and when it doesn't disturb their primary role as a breadwinner.

Now that we understand what the problem, let us explore some important factors influencing this dismally low rate of involvement in child-rearing and home responsibilities on fathers' part. Apart from some psychological reasons that we shall discuss later, it has been found that society and individual perceptions regarding the role of a father has severely limited their desire to be engaged and extent of involvement. At home, men are still treated as the main provider thus underestimating role played by women in the same capacity. Secondly a constant reminder of being the main breadwinner makes men feel exempt from other responsibilities as they consider home chores to be a woman's turf alone.

Society has also played a significant role in keeping fathers away from household and child-nurturing responsibilities. Our workplaces are still highly competitive battlefields where everyone is expected to give their 100% with little or no regard for their personal lives. James Garbarino aptly sums it up: "Currently, there is nothing in this society to make us believe that employers will drastically change the workplace into one more cognizant of the needs of working parents of both genders ... "