{"id":574638,"date":"2026-03-30T17:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574638\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T17:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:56:09","slug":"most-gen-z-fathers-in-australia-believe-its-solely-their-job-to-provide-financially-research-finds-parents-and-parenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574638\/","title":{"rendered":"Most gen Z fathers in Australia believe it\u2019s solely their job to provide financially, research finds | Parents and parenting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Younger fathers are more likely to cling to outdated ideas that frame men as the money earners and women as caregivers, new research has found.<\/p>\n

The Australian State of the World\u2019s Fathers report is based on a global survey of 8,000 parents, with 533 from Australia.<\/p>\n

The survey found 72% of gen Z fathers (18-28) in Australia think \u201ca father\u2019s sole responsibility is to provide financially for his children\u201d, a number that drops to 61% for millennials (29-44) and to 57% for gen X (45-60).<\/p>\n

It also found 65% of gen Z think \u201cthings are better if men do paid work and women do care work\u201d, compared with 66% of millennials and 45% of gen X.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s millennials were the \u201cmost consistently traditional group\u201d across all the caregiving questions, according to the study by The Fathering Project and Western Sydney University.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

It found despite shifting attitudes around parents and care, and fathers wanting to be present in their children\u2019s lives, there are still barriers to equality including financial pressures and entrenched gender norms.<\/p>\n

Data released in 2025<\/a> showed Australian women spend almost twice as much time as men caring for children and relatives, despite women now doing much more paid work as well.<\/p>\n

Most men believe they do their fair share, it found.<\/p>\n

More than 40% of the parents in Australia surveyed for the State of the World\u2019s Fathers report thought boys shouldn\u2019t be taught domestic skills such as sewing, cooking and cleaning.<\/p>\n

However, more than 90% said that care matters as much as paid work and that men who shared care were good partners.<\/p>\n

The report authors wrote that the gender pay gap \u201ccan limit parents\u2019 ability to make genuine choices about who earns and who cares\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough many fathers aspire to be emotionally engaged caregivers, their involvement is often constrained by long work hours, inflexible employment conditions, limited access to childcare and persistent gender norms that position men as primary earners and women as primary carers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvidence shows that supportive policies \u2013 such as paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements \u2013 are associated with increased paternal caregiving and positive outcomes for mothers, families, and gender equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

More men think care is split<\/p>\n

Researchers said economic pressure and discourses about threats to masculinity could be intensifying among younger men, and that financial insecurity rather than income predicted a stronger endorsement of traditional gender norms.<\/p>\n

The survey also found 80% of men said care was split evenly in their household, compared with 66% of women. The authors also noted that women described doing \u201cthe invisible coordination work\u201d while fathers focused \u201con more discrete tasks\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also described the \u201ccare tax\u201d of reduced work hours or stopping work entirely for caregiving, with 90% of parents agreeing that a four-day work week would allow them better work-life balance.<\/p>\n

A researcher on the project, Western Sydney University\u2019s Dr Alina Ewald, said changes by employers, government, health groups and policymakers were needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to see the introduction of flexible working and childcare support as organisational norms, with the normalisation of fathers taking leave and working flexibly without career penalty,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Government should extend paid parental leave and have dedicated leave for fathers, and subsidise childcare for financially insecure families, she said. Health and community groups should offer father-specific support and screening for paternal postnatal depression<\/a>, and policymakers should invest in accessibility for lone parents, culturally diverse families, and the financially insecure.<\/p>\n

The Fathering Project board member Dr James Brown said there were systemic failures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorkplace cultures can make caregiving costly for dads, leave can be limited or unclear, and support services don\u2019t always meet fathers\u2019 needs. Additionally, economic conditions push families back toward gendered arrangements even when both partners want something different,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe care tax falls differently on mothers and fathers, but both bear real costs that compound across a lifetime.<\/p>\n

The system that constrains women also constrains men.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A 70-30 split\u2019<\/p>\n

When his wife was six months pregnant with daughter Marlo \u2013 now nearly two \u2013 Zac Cracknell left his job to start his own swimming pool business.<\/p>\n

The Queensland man said he feels tension between wanting to make as much money as possible, and work pulling him away from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though care is something we share, the pressure to provide financially still sits heavily with me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably closer to a 70-30 split, with her taking on more of the hands-on care, even though she also works full-time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said being his own boss is a plus in terms of flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that pro has a very big con, which is that you have to find a way to make the money. You\u2019re wrestling with that work-life balance \u2026 it\u2019s a double-edged sword,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made the choice to come home at the right time to support my wife and my daughter. Coming home and seeing her run down the hallway, it\u2019s the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the back of my mind is that I\u2019ve had to cut my work short.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Younger fathers are more likely to cling to outdated ideas that frame men as the money earners and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-574638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}