As the mother to three boys and the CEO of a software company, I often stress the importance of balancing my work and home lives when I talk about being a working mom. I have frequently discussed the struggles that working moms face, but I haven’t yet touched on the struggles faced by a similar and equally important demographic: working dads.
According to a 2013 Pew Research study, the amount of paid work that mothers complete each week on average has almost tripled since 1965. But, as mothers increasingly work for pay, the number of hours spent by fathers completing household work and participating in family time has seen a comparable increase. The idea of being a “working dad” is becoming so much more common that roughly 50 percent of fathers surveyed for the Pew study said that they felt they have a difficult time balancing work and time with their families. This is a commonly discussed statistic for working moms; it should not be ignored when it applies to men.
The term “working mom” has a positive connotation in most circles. A working mom is strong, capable, organized—essentially a “wonder woman.” But while modern dads often partake in many of the same “working mom” activities—namely cooking, cleaning and parenting while also juggling a full-time job—they don’t receive the same respect from society. Men used to be praised as “involved” for partaking in an hour’s worth of child care or household duties a week. Today, working fathers deserve to be viewed just as honorably as their female counterparts.