Most Australian fathers see themselves as confident caregivers who want to be more present in their children’s lives, but financial pressures and entrenched gender norms are preventing them from showing up the way they want to.
New findings from the Australian State of the World’s Fathers research found that while most Australian fathers enjoy caregiving, nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) don’t feel “man enough” unless they’re providing financially for their family.
Younger men were more likely to adhere to these “provider expectations”, with Gen Z fathers more likely (72 per cent) to agree that a father’s sole responsibility is to provide financially.
The Australian State of the World’s Fathers report is based on a global survey of 8,000 parents, including 533 from Australia.
More than half of fathers said they have never been made aware of father-specific support services, while one in four dads reported they would have liked access to a fathers’ group when they were preparing to become a parent.
Only one in five fathers reported having access to paid parental leave that would have enabled them to care for their young child.
Dr James Brown, a member of The Fathering Project board, said that the study showed that Australian fathers wanted to care, but better support was needed.
“What stands in the way is not a failure of will but a failure of systems – workplace cultures can make caregiving costly for dads, leave can be limited or unclear, and support services don’t always meet fathers’ needs,” Dr Brown said.
“Additionally, economic conditions push families back toward gendered arrangements even when both partners want something different.
“The care tax falls differently on mothers and fathers, but both bear real costs that compound across a lifetime. The system that constrains women also constrains men.”
The division of care
The survey found a significant perception gap regarding how care is shared between men and women. While 80 per cent of men say they split the care and housework equally, only 66 per cent of women agreed with this.
Meanwhile, 86 per cent of men see the division of domestic labour in their household as fair, compared to 68 per cent of women, who tend to bear more of the invisible mental load in two-parent, heterosexual households.
Last year, data revealed that Australian men are doing no more housework than they were two decades ago, with women doing 50 per cent more housework than men on average each week.
Concerningly, more than 40 per cent of Australian parents surveyed thought boys shouldn’t be taught domestic skills like sewing, cooking and cleaning.
One of the researchers, Western Sydney University‘s Dr Alina Ewald, said there were four areas that need to see change: employers, government, health groups and policymakers.
“For employers, work-care conflict is a key barrier to caregiving time. We want to see the introduction of flexible working and childcare support as organisational norms, with the normalisation of fathers taking leave and working flexibly without career penalty,” she said.
“For government, we recommend extending paid parental leave for fathers, with dedicated, non-transferable leave periods and investment in subsidised childcare for financially insecure families.
“For health and community groups, we need the development of father-specific peer support pathways from birth and routine screening for paternal postnatal depression.
“For policymakers, the awareness gap is as much a communication failure as a service gap. We need investment in outreach and accessibility – particularly for financially insecure, lone parent, and culturally diverse families.”
A hidden mental health toll
The research also pointed to wellbeing consequences of the gendered pattern of care in Australia. Despite reporting moderate overall life satisfaction, 33 per cent of fathers reported having suicidal thoughts in the past two weeks, compared to 23 per cent of mothers.
More than 50 per cent of men reported heavy drinking in that same period.
Critically, fathers who placed a high value on caregiving reported significantly lower distress.