Men Become More Sexist After the Birth of Their First Child, According to a Research

As if becoming a mother wasn’t hard enough.

Research shows that men become more traditional in their attitudes to childcare and housework following the birth of their first baby.

On becoming fathers, they believe more strongly that a woman’s most important role in life is being a mother.

They are also less likely to subscribe to the idea that household chores should be shared equally and more likely to say that women should only work if they need the money.

The findings come from a study in which almost 2,000 Australian adults were asked a series of questions before and after becoming parents.

However, the researchers say it is likely that fatherhood would have also make British men more conservative in their views.

They believe the shift has its roots in society rather than in biology.

Researcher Janeen Baxter, a social scientist, said: ‘It seems more likely the way we organise work, parental leave arrangements, public services for children, schools and social networks create structural barriers to involved fatherhood and also encourage the traditional social construction of a women’s mothering role.’

Motherhood also affected women’s beliefs – but the results were less clear-cut.

For instance, becoming a parent led to women, like men, more strongly supporting the idea that a woman’s main role is being a mother.

However, having a baby led to women seeing working mothers in a new light.

University of Queensland researcher Janeen (CORR) Baxter said: ‘Despite the apparent contradiction, women also believed more strongly than they did before birth that working women can be just as good caregivers as stay-at-home mums.

‘We found that new mothers become less likely than before to say that working mothers care more about their careers than their children.’

Writing in the journal Social Forces, Professor Baxter said: ‘For women, there is evidence of more conflicting views about gender divisions of labour and mothering following the birth of their first child.

‘This is unsurprising, given that motherhood is associated with greater changes for women in terms of their participation in paid work compared to men.

‘It may be harder for women to reconcile their pre- and post-parenthood views about mothering and gender division with the realities of caring for a newborn, reducing paid work hours, or leaving paid work, while at the same time supporting women’s rights to pursue paid work and careers outside the home.’  

Daily Mail.

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