Gender Liberation, Economic Squeeze, or Fear of Strangers: Why Fathers Provide Infant Care in Dual-Earner Families

Abstract

As dual-earner families become the dominant structure for families with dependent children, demographers have noted an increase in the number of families who avoid the use of paid child care by substituting fathers for paid child-care providers. The number of married couples in which at least one partner works a nonstandard shift has increased in recent years, a phenomenon that encourages parents to establish sequential work schedules that decrease reliance on nonparental care. This article examines the experiences of families who use fathers to care for their newborn infants when mothers return to work after childbirth. It documents the hours of care provided by fathers while mothers are at work, the simultaneous use of other child-care arrangements, and the average savings per family. Then this analysis explores three possible motivations for families to utilize fathers, rather than other relatives or paid caregivers, as primary care providers. Key Words: child care, fathers, maternal employment. Sociological and psychological literature has documented the stressors associated with two-earner families, particularly the overload experienced by employed mothers of small children and the problems with the quality and stability of substitute care received by preschoolers (Hochschild, 1989; Hyde & Essex, 1991; McLanahan & Adams, 1987; Repetti, Mathews, & Waldron, 1989; Ross & Mirowsky, 1988). Yet the proportion of mothers of infants and small children in the labor force continues to grow (U.S. Census, 1992), and reports on the availability, cost, and quality of infanttoddler care in the United States show that most fail to provide adequate contexts for child development (Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study Team, 1995; Kontos, Howes, Shinn, & Galinsky, 1995). This occurs despite the fact that the average family spends a significant portion of their total earnings on child care (Kamerman & Kahn, 1987; Sale, 1984; Zigler & Gilman, 1996). Moreover, the entrance of mothers into the labor force has not been accompanied by much increase in fathers' participation in domestic labor, although modest increases in fathers' child-care time have been noted in two-parent households (Coverman & Sheley, 1986; Hiller & Philliber, 1986; Presser, 1994; Robinson, 1988; Ross, 1987). Calls for increases in fathers' participation in family life have been widespread from both feminist and nonfeminist sources (Blankenhorn, 1995; Friedan, 1997). Advocates suggest that the increased participation of fathers would strengthen the family, alleviate much of the stress of employed mothers, decrease reliance on child care of questionable quality, and renew children's relationships with adult men as role models. Indeed, research shows that fathers who care for their children from infancy enhance children's cognitive and social development (Lamb, Pleck, & Levine, 1985) and improve employed mothers' mental health (Ross & Mirowsky, 1988). Single fathers develop parenting skills on par with those of mothers when granted custody of their children (Risman, 1989). Fathers increasingly report that they want to be more directly involved in their children's lives and often feel guilty when they are not (La Rossa, 1988). Evidence suggests that some demographic groups of fathers have been increasing their primary care of children in recent years, although others have increasingly abandoned parental responsibility for their children altogether (Furstenburg, 1988). Some scholars have noted an increasing tendency for employed husbands and wives to work separate shifts or to work some hours at home (Negrey, 1993; Presser, 1988). Over 25% of dual-earner families with children have husbands and wives whose working schedules do not overlap, and in most of these families fathers care for children while their wives are at work (Brayfield, 1995; Presser, 19889a situation hereafter defined as father care. …