Not too long ago, dads onscreen took on the starring role as the fumbling secondary caregiver who didn’t know how to braid their child’s hair or change a diaper, but according to research, the “useless dads” stereotype is very wide off the mark.
TL;DR
- Fathers now comprise 18% of stay-at-home parents, a significant increase from 5% in 2000.
- Economic slumps and the pandemic have driven the rise in stay-at-home fathers.
- Motivations for fathers staying home are shifting from necessity to include childcare and changing gender norms.
- While still a minority, more educated fathers are increasingly opting to stay home.
Dads now constitute 18% of parents who stay home, as per a Pew Research Center analysis. The count of fathers remaining at home has almost doubled in the last three decades, with economic slumps driving this pattern.
Just 5% of fathers were stay-at-home dads at the turn of the millennium.
In approximately 2008, this figure climbed to 9%, but as the economy improved, the proportion of fathers acting as primary caregivers steadily decreased until the pandemic's onset.
Research in the U.K. Also shows a one-third increase in fathers staying home with their children during the pandemic, pointing to a worldwide cultural change as numerous men were required, for the first time, to balance childcare responsibilities alongside remote work.
Why dads are staying at home
Although mothers constitute the vast majority of parents who remain at home, as Pew Research Center data indicates nearly 80% of women do so exclusively to manage their households, fathers who stay home are less inclined to leave their jobs for comparable motivations.
Over a third are sidelined by sickness or disability, approximately 13% have retired, another 13% reported an inability to secure employment, and 8% are pursuing education.
Meanwhile, 23% cited staying at home to care for the home or family.
However, this marks a significant change from three decades ago, when 56% of fathers were home because of sickness or impairment, and only 4% were doing so to care for their children.
Evidence indicates fathers are more frequently opting for childcare responsibilities rather than solely being the primary earner, deviating from the traditional path of assuming this role out of necessity due to job loss or injury during economic downturns.
“There is a bit of a shift among the nation’s fathers,” Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew who authored the analysis on stay-at-home dads, told Insider. “Is it huge? No. But there seems to be some evidence that changing gender norms are contributing to the rise in stay-at-home dads.”
Fathers who remain at home typically possess less formal education and a lower economic standing than those who are employed. Nevertheless, the percentage of stay-at-home fathers holding a bachelor's degree has seen an upward trend throughout the last thirty years.
“If you’re a better-educated dad, you’re less likely to be a stay-at-home father,” Fry said.
Given that childcare costs are frequently unaffordable for many families, it makes financial sense for the parent earning less to remain at home. With an increasing number of women obtaining advanced degrees and joining the labor force, it's becoming more likely for fathers to be the lower-earning parent who may opt out of employment to focus on raising children.
A version of this story originally published on Coins2Day.com on August 16, 2023.
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