Women go out to work, while dads look after the kids

The research reveals that an increasing number of men are staying at home to look after the family while their partner goes out to work, often simply because the women earns more.

One in six couples with dependent children say that the main wage earner is the female.

Of 3 million economically inactive males in 2000, only 2% stated they were stay-at-home parents, while latest data shows that 6% of men now act as primary carer for the home and children.

A further 18% of couples stated they share childcare equally in their household.

The research clearly shows how the lines of traditional roles and responsibilities are changing as it’s no longer necessarily men who look after the money and women who look after the children.

However four in ten women are said to feel guilty going out to work and leaving their children, while 75% of men felt lucky to be spending time with their children.

Men seem to be taking the role of the carer in their stride with only 10% saying that looking after childen and not going to work makes them feel ‘less of a man’.

Generally speaking it is still more usual for men to take the more conventional role of the main income earner, however the latest data shows that this is shifting and more women are becoming the breadwinners.

By Deepika Dudakia