Income, expectation keep fathers at grindstone

Most men do not stop working or change their work hours much when they become dads. And despite ­fathers today being more involved in childcare, this trend doesn’t seem to be changing.

Only one in 20 Australian ­fathers works part-time compared to more than a third of mothers, a study has found.

Analysis of three decades of work hours by the Australian Institute of Family Studies shows men don’t stop working or change their work hours much when they become dads.

Only one in three Aussie dads works flexible hours, 15 per cent work from home and 5 per cent work part-time. This compares to 36 per cent of mothers who work part-time.

Four per cent of fathers are stay-at-home dads — up just 1 per cent from 1991 — compared to about 25 per cent of mothers.

Only one in three Aussie dads works flexible hours.

AIFS senior research fellow Jennifer Baxter said that while “there was steady growth in the proportion of fathers taking up flexible work options to care for children between 1996 and 2008, this trend has since levelled off over the last ­decade”.

AIFS director Anne Hollonds said this was despite ­fathers today being more involved in childcare, especially at weekends.

“The availability of parental leave for fathers and the gender pay gap are still barriers for couples who would otherwise choose to share family responsibilities more equally,” Ms Hollonds said.

“Mothers, on the other hand, tend to be the primary carers of children under one and take years to gradually increase their time in paid employment.”

­Fathers today are more involved in childcare, especially at weekends.

Dr Baxter said fathers tended to fit their parenting around their work rather than choosing to reduce the overall hours they worked.

“They rarely take up part-time hours as a flexible work option to assist in the care of children. Instead, fathers continue to work full-time in the labour market where expectations about the need to work long hours tend to prevail,” she said.

“Single fathers have more diverse work patterns, with higher proportions in part-time work or unemployed, but these arrangements are not likely to always reflect active choices to spend fewer hours in employment.”

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Parents At Work CEO Emma Walsh said fathers were “conscious of a stigma and bias around taking extended leave, especially when they are unable to see their male colleagues taking leave”.

“The gender pay gap means that men traditionally earn more in the family and this, too, affects a father’s decision to take extended leave or to consider changing their work arrangements,” Ms Walsh said.

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