Married Fathers ' and Mothers ' Time With Children: Gender Differences in the Role of Parents ’ and Their Spouses ' Employment

The time that married fathers spend caring for their children has risen markedly over the past 20 years (Sayer, Bianchi and Robinson 2004). Mothers ’ time with children rose over this period, too, resulting in a narrowed but still substantial gender gap in parental time investments in children (Bianchi, Robinson and Milkie 2006; Sayer, Bianchi and Robinson 2004). Mothers ’ increased investments in child care coincided with continuing growth in maternal labor force participation, prompting some scholars to argue that women today face heightened social pressure to conform to a standard of “intensive mothering ” (Hays 1996) defined in part by large time expenditures on children. The factors underlying fathers ’ increased time with children have received less attention. In this paper, we examine the circumstances under which married fathers increase – or decrease – their time with children and explore how these circumstances differ from the factors that promote or inhibit mothers ’ time investments in children. We focus on four questions. First, given that norms of motherhood center on maternal responsibility for child care while norms of fatherhood often emphasize breadwinning over care giving, we ask whether fathers ’ work circumstances (including employment status, occupation and work shift) are more closely associated with time with children than mothers ’ work circumstances