Fathers, paid work and family change
1999 Wellington Father's Forum
Employment patterns have changed dramatically for both, men and women, and these changes impact on family structures, argues Paul Callister. Excerpts from his paper:
Changes in patterns of paid work for men
Although the restructuring of the economy from the early 1980s changed the work patterns of many men up to this period there had, in fact, been a long term decline in the overall proportion of men in paid work (Chapple, 1994). For men aged 25-54 the decline began in the mid 1970s, while for men aged 55-64 there was a steady increase in participation from the early 1950s to the mid 1960s, followed by a steady decline until the late 1980s.
However, the period since the mid 1980s has been very significant for men in the main childraising age groups. [The 1986, 1991 and 1996 censuses] cover the period of major job loss between 1986 and 1991, but also a period of strong employment growth in the subsequent five years. [The figures] show that, in this latter period of job growth, participation rates for men in many age groups only increased marginally, while in others they continued to decline.
Along with the decline in participation in paid work, in all age groups [between 20 and 59] there was also strong growth, from a low base, in the proportion of men working part time. This further reduces the proportion of men fulfilling a “traditional” role of full-time work. However, at the same time in contrast to the reduction in the working time of one group of prime-aged men, the working time has increased for another group of men.
Why have prime-aged men been dropping out of paid work? There are many theories why a significant number of prime-working age men are not in paid work, either short-term or for long periods. There are a set of reasons overlooked by most labour market analysts as to why a group of men have dropped out of paid work. Some men in two-parent families have in fact voluntarily decided to stay home full-time in order to look after children. In addition, some of the partnered men who have involuntarily dropped out of paid work may be spending some of the additional time they have looking after children. There has also been some growth in sole father families between 1986 and 1996. While in New Zealand sole fathers are more likely to be in paid work than sole-mothers, they are still far less likely to be employed than partnered fathers.
An increase in educational participation provides only part of the answer as why men have dropped out of paid work. In the 1990s, more men are extending their initial time in education or returning in later life for further training. But while many of the men in the younger age groups are studying either full-time or part-time, the majority of men who are either unemployed or not in the labour force are not studying.
In terms of the type of work on offer, part-time work has been growing much faster than full-time work. For example, from 1981 to 1996 part-time employment rose by 94 percent, while full-time jobs increased by only 5 percent. For various reasons, including the idea that many men still are aiming to be primary income earners in families, many men may not be willing, or able, to take on part-time work.
The census also provides some evidence that “female” type jobs have been increasing faster than “male” jobs in New Zealand. These include occupations such as childcare, primary teaching, and clerical work. Some of these are relatively low paid, which may be the main barrier to participation of men in these occupations. But in some of these occupations it may also be that employers, other employees and, also at times clients, might discriminate against men. An extreme example is childcare work where almost all teachers are female. There has been very strong growth in childcare employment in New Zealand.
The idea that increasing inequality in incomes might result in an unobtainable target wage rate also has some support in New Zealand. Statistics New Zealand (1999) have shown that there was an increase in inequality of incomes for men aged 15-64 over the period 1986 to 1996.
Are more men looking after children in New Zealand? Research by Pleck (1997) indicates that in 1960 married American fathers spent, on average, one hour looking after their children for every four hours spent by their wives. In the mid 1990s the ratio is one hour for every 1.5 hours their wives spend with their children. A significant part of this change reflects a decline in the amount of time mothers are spending in childcare. However, such averages disguise some major shifts occurring within particular families, and a lack of change in others.
There is currently little reliable data on the number of men looking after children at home in New Zealand or the time spent in this activity. However, the Household Labour Force Survey does provide an estimate of the number of men not in the labour force and looking after children as a main activity
The HLFS data indicates a steady increase, from a low base, in the number of men looking after children. This rise continued over both a period of overall employment loss and a period of employment gain. When the numbers of men undertaking childcare as a main activity is divided by the total number of men and women in this group, there was also a rise in this proportion over the period shown. However, is not known whether these men are in sole father families or two parent families, or the age of the children.
These data indicate that relatively few men appear to dropped completely of the labour force to become full-time caregivers despite the very strong growth in non-employment of prime-aged men. There are a number of possible reasons why this is so:
- a high proportion of men who are not in paid work may not be fathers
- many fathers who are not in paid work are not living with their children
- that fathers in two parent families who are out of work may tend to be with partners who are also out of work and so gender roles in the home are not challenged
- that many of the fathers who we are now seeing in New Zealand spending more time with their children are unemployed and actively looking for work, working part-time or are shiftworkers
Changing patterns of paid work in two-parent childrearing families
A final factor explaining why many men who have dropped out of paid work are not looking after children full-time is that, when such men are still in childrearing couples, their partner is also likely not to be in paid work.
Census data show that in heterosexual two-parent families, fathers have been dropping out of paid work, while mothers have been increasing their participation in the labour market. While there was a small increase in the proportion of “role-reversal” couples between 1986 and 1996, there was stronger growth in “no-job” and “two-job” couples.
Overall, this has resulted in a major decline in the traditional families where the fathers was the sole breadwinner and the mother stayed home and looked after the children. In the “no-job” couples, the mothers could maintain their traditional childcare role. However, equally in the two-job couples some fathers will be taking on a greater share of nurturing work.
Overall, these trends would suggest that in two-parent families the decline in the father’s traditional role of income earner has occurred faster than the growth in a new role of fathers looking after children full-time at home. However, it may simply be that the concept of any one parent, whether male of female specialising in looking after a child full-time at home is disappearing. This would then indicate that more indepth study is needed of households in order to determine the nurturing and work (paid and unpaid) roles undertaken by both men and women. However developing appropriate measures of who might have primary responsibility for various family functions is getting more difficult.