In the long run,
the facts are on the side of the optimists.
To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., the arc of history bends toward progress. But progress doesn't just happen. People work hard to discover ways forward.
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Bit by bit, men are remodeling their role in the family. Women continue to shoulder most of the labor on the home front. But since the pandemic, men have markedly shifted their behavior in ways that appear to be enduring.
College-educated fathers in the US have cut an average of six hours per week at paid work and added over four hours on childcare and housework. Non-college fathers also added almost three hours per week of unpaid work at home or with the kids.
The generational contrast is stark: Today’s Millennial fathers spend twice as much time per week on domestic duties as their Baby Boomer fathers did, and four times as much as the Silent Generation. This shift represents a daily reallocation of time—105 fewer minutes spent at the workplace or commuting, and 74 more minutes spent playing with, driving, or caring for children.
And at least relatively speaking, dads are enjoying it. In well-being surveys, fathers feel better when caring for the kids than when working, cleaning the house, or even watching TV. It’s not just talk. Leisure time watching TV and reading has dropped by 30 minutes a day.
Housework has plummeted for women in the past half century, largely due to automation in the kitchen and laundry room, but women have actually increased their child care hours as their outside work also increased. They still spend twice the time fathers do with children, on average, and tend to handle the most stressful tasks of childrearing.
Sources: Axios; Derek Thompson; American Time Use Survey