Fathers nowadays are spending more time with their children. In the late 1990s, fathers of children under 5 were spending an average two hours a day on child-related activities, compared to less than a quarter of an hour per day in the mid 1970s. Time spent by fathers with their children accounts for one third of total parental childcare time.
Fathers are more likely to be employed, and to work longer hours, than men without dependant children. It has been noted recently that some fathers even sacrifice their own career ambitions in order to spend more time with their children at a certain point in their lives.

Now lets look at the other side of a coin – men’s earnings. The fact that men’s earnings are generally a higher proportion of the family income than women’s can limit the time men are able to spend with their children. Different patterns emerge where women earn more. Women’s hourly earnings from full-time work are 19% less than men in full-time work - and women’s earnings from part-time work are 41% less than men’s for full-timework. Women’s lower pay levels means that it is mainly women who reduce working hours after their children are born, which reinforces the traditional gender roles in many families. Men are more closely involved in looking after children where the mother earns more than they do. This might mean some problems for men in a so called “Father-friendly employment” arena. Many employers still see flexible working or family-friendly working policies as something for women. However it is not very common in male-dominated workplaces to offer flexible working arrangements than similar to those most women have. Fathers often feel discouraged by workplace norms and culture from taking time off work for family, or expressing a wish for flexible work.

Father’s expectations about whether they would have access to work life balance policies are lower than for mothers. The lack of opportunity for fathers to use flexible work practices to look after children is worrying, as children whose fathers have been actively involved in their lives have better outcomes including: