Childcare And Gender

One of the dramatic social changes in much of the industrialized world in the last 50 years has been in the entrance of women into the labor force. In contemporary industrialized societies, most women with children work outside of the home. Men’s average involvement in childcare and housework has also increased, although domestic responsibilities continue to be handled mostly by women in most dual-career families.6 Research finds that fathers’ childcare involvement is negatively related to children’s gender stereotyping. Through active involvement in child care, fathers demonstrate that the adult male role may include nurturing as well as instrumental activities.7

The potential influence of parental gender-role modeling has also been implicated