Men who have lost their traditional roles as breadwinners are seeking to reassert their authority at home by becoming the “number one parent”, according to research.

The phenomenon, dubbed “Daddy Wars”, is seeing professionals who are married to equally successful women becoming far more involved in child care, it is claimed.

Dr Caroline Gatrell, author of Hard Labour: The Sociology of Parenthood, said fathers were challenging mothers’ “sphere of influence” in the home because they felt it was the one remaining area in which they could exercise authority.

Children - not money - were now the source of power struggles between the sexes, she said.

“These men want to continue with their careers but be the number one parent at home.

“They realise that jobs are not for life, relationships are often not for life, but children are for life and they want to put their investment in the right place,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

However, she added that fathers’ efforts tended not extend to helping with domestic chores such as washing clothes or packing lunchboxes.

Men saw playing with their children as more worthwhile because it “strengthened the paternal sphere of influence”, while indirect child care tasks such as sweeping the floor were “tedious and did not augment fathers’ power”, she said. (…)

In America, Daddy Wars are said to be in full flow.

The US Families and Work Institute claims 54 per cent of men in dual-earning couples report conflict with their partners, up from 34 per cent in 1977.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
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