[Canada] "Dads' Housework Inspires Girls' Ambitions" by Ann Lukits

This seems like important and interesting research for gay dads. It has a wonderful applicability to those gay male parented families who have female children.  What a wonderful by-product of our families if having male parents doing housework inspires or encourages our girls to aspire to careers and occupations outside the gender norms.

"Fathers Who Helped With Household Chores Were More Likely to Have Daughters Who Aspired to Less Traditionally Feminine Occupations

Fathers who help with the dishes and laundry may play an important role in shaping their daughters' future, suggests a study in the August issue of Psychological Science.

Researchers found that fathers who performed an equal share of household chores were more likely to have daughters who aspired to less traditionally feminine occupations, such as astronaut, marine biologist, geologist, police officer and professional hockey or soccer player.

Fathers who believed in gender equality and yet left most of the housework to mothers had daughters who favored more traditionally feminine careers, such as nursing, fashion designer, librarian and stay-at-home mom.

By pitching in at home, fathers may be signaling to daughters that they can expect men to help with chores, allowing women more time for work, researchers said.

From 2011 to 2012, researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, recruited 172 boys and 154 girls, ages 7 to 13, from a local science center and at least one of the 204 mothers and 140 fathers who were present.

The division of labor in each household and the attitudes of parents and children toward domestic chores were assessed with questionnaires. Children's career aspirations were assessed.

On average, mothers reported doing 68.2% of child care and housework, compared with 42.2% reported by fathers, but fathers spent twice as many hours at paid jobs. Both parents shared domestic chores equally in less than 15% of households. Two-thirds of fathers and 14.4% of mothers reported inconsistencies in their beliefs about gender roles and the example they set at the home.

Girls were more likely to envision themselves working outside the home, as engineers, paleontologists and medical researchers, for example, if both parents held less traditional beliefs. But it was the father's day-to-day participation in daily chores that predicted girls' unconventional career aspirations.

Boys aspired to traditional male careers such as surgeon, engineer and CEO, regardless of their parents' beliefs or the division of labor at home".

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