There has been a general shift from past to present regarding child-rearing and housework among United States household. Fathers are spending more time with their children and on housework now, than ever before. Jeremy Adam Smith, a writer for the New York Times, writes about this child-rearing and housework shift calling it; “the daddy shift”. He explains this shift as “the gradual movement away from a definition of fatherhood as pure bread-winning to one that encompasses a capacity of care giving”. A cause of this shift can be traced back to a more common economic instability that exists today among American families. According to Smith, families are shifting to a new family model that is more resilient to trying economic times. This resilient family model consists of both women and men that are capable of earning a living and working at home. Though fathers spend more time with their children and on housework today than at any at any other point since researchers started collecting data, a lack of support for men in their new care giving roles has begun to slow this shift. Studies have consistently shown that eighty to ninety percent of mothers still expect their husbands to serve as primary breadwinners. In order for this “daddy shift” to continue, fathers need continued encouragement from their wives to participate in family life. I have criticism for Smith regarding an ideal family model. I question whether or not an ideal family model exists? Just because one family is different from the next, does not mean one is more prone to gender inequality than the other.
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