Stay-at-home fathers few and far between, but slowly increasing

STAY-at-home dads are older and rarer than their female counterparts — but the numbers are slowly rising, according to a national study out today.

MORE dads are choosing to stay at home with the children while mum works, a national study reveals.

Census data analysed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, released today, shows that about 80,000 Australian families now have a stay-at-home dad, up from 68,500 in just seven years.

The research suggests parents are choosing the arrangement because mums now have a greater earning capacity.

However, Institute Senior Research Fellow Dr Jennifer Baxter said that families with stay-at-home dads were still among the lowest earning cohorts in Australia.

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Rhys Allen looks after Freya, 8, and Oscar, 4. Picture: Rob Leeson

“Fewer than one in 10 stay-at-home father families have household incomes in the top range identified as earning $3000 or more per week,” Dr Baxter said.

“Not surprisingly, dual working families were much more likely to have these ­incomes than other families.”

The study by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found stay-at-home fathers were on average older than stay-at-home mothers and more likely to have older kids and own their own home.

“The majority of stay-at-home mums are there because they want to prioritise looking after children,” Dr Baxter said.

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Rhys Allen decided to be a stay-at-home dad for financial reasons. Picture: Rob Leeson

“When the financial strains are off, families and parents don’t have mortgage payments, they can start to think about other ways they can manage work arrangements.”

Malmsbury parents Kathryn and Rhys Allen, both 43, were faced with the childcare conundrum when their second child Oscar was born four years ago.

It was decided “purely for ­financial reasons” that Mrs Allen, a neurophysiologist, would stay working and Mr Allen, a customer support officer, would take over at home.

Mr Allen said despite how much he has loved the experience of looking after his son and daughter, Freya, 8, he sometimes wished more dads were doing the same thing.

“Mothers’ groups aren’t easy for me to break into,” he said. “It would have been cool to have an equal amount of dads to talk with at the start.”

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