Dads, Commit to Your Family at Home and at Work

Men want to step up. Here are four places to start.

by

and

W. Brad Johnson

by

and

W. Brad Johnson

November 11, 2020 · Long read

01

A Way Forward for Working Parents

02

Your Questions About Work, Caregiving, and Covid-19, Answered

03

8 Ways to Build an Employee Resource Group for Parents

04

Dads, Commit to Your Family at Home and at Work

05

The Free Market Has Failed U.S. Working Parents

06

What Working Parents Need from Their Managers

07

From Hands-Off to Helicopters

08

How to Talk to Your Kids About Work During the Pandemic

Summary.

While fathers are increasingly recognizing the value of caring for, educating, and raising their kids, there are still imbalances that make working parenthood more difficult for mothers. In particular, new research shows that fathers, on average, still do only around half of the unpaid work that mothers do. The good news is that men want to step up, and they can do so by acknowledging the problem, aiming for equity in household tasks, collaborating with their partners on decision making, and speaking up at work about their family’s needs. Organizations can help, too, by rethinking assumptions about fathering, by role-modeling, by championing flexible work arrangements and time off, and by supporting access to childcare for their workers.

In Salt Lake City, Richard, a food distribution representative, started keeping a journal on his phone to remember the little moments he has spent with his kids since he began working from home while his wife, Melissa, works as a nurse in a Covid-19 unit.

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The Free Market Has Failed U.S. Working Parents

New federal policies for paid leave, quality and affordable childcare, fair work schedules, and living wages are more important than ever.

Haley Swenson is an expert on work, gender, and inequality and the deputy director of the Better Life Lab, a work-life justice policy program based at the nonpartisan think tank New America. She is the author of the recent report “Engaged Dads and the Opportunities for and Barriers to Equal Parenting in the United States.”
Eve Rodsky is a lawyer and the founder of the Philanthropy Advisory Group, which advises high-net-worth families and charitable foundations on best practices for harmonious operations, governance, and disposition of funds. She is the author of Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live).
David G. Smith is an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. He is the coauthor, with W. Brad Johnson, of Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace and Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women.
W. Brad Johnson is a professor of psychology in the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law at the United States Naval Academy and a faculty associate in the Graduate School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. He is the coauthor of Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace, Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women, The Elements of Mentoring, and other books on mentorship.

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