Fathers as caregivers

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Abstract
It is traditionally thought that mothers are better equipped than fathers to care for children. A major interview study of Australian fathers and mothers, however, revealed that a significant minority of parents have life-styles inconsistent with this belief; in these families, fathers and mothers share the caregiving equally, or nearly equally. The focus of this paper is on 23 of these shared-role families. Data are presented on: work and family life, divisions of labour, beliefs about parental roles, other people's reactions to their life-styles, problems encountered in changing caregiving patterns, and parental perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of sharing caregiving. The findings show that fathers are competent caregivers, and it is argued that there is no reason why this shared-role pattern should not become an accepted and viable alternative family life-style. For this to occur, however, changes are necessary at both structural (for example, more job flexibility) and personal levels (for example, changes in beliefs about parental roles and the needs of children).

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