Who earns the money? Who looks after the baby? Who cleans the kitchen? And how do we cope with all of this without sleep and without falling out with each other?
Get in the conversation here, in the book and on Facebook and Twitter - and most importantly around your kitchen table.
by Duncan on July 2, 2010
Katrin Bennhold, correspondent for the International Herald Tribune in Paris, has written a fantastic piece, Women’s liberation lies in liberating men. It links the issue of gender equality with what happens between women and men at home.
Motherhood still remains the barrier to gender equality…..The only thing that can level the playing field at work is a level playing field at home. And that requires a major shift in public policy and corporate culture.
There is a long list of books and websites on sharing things at home at Equally Shared Parenting.
by Duncan on June 29, 2010
I spoke with two groups of expectant/new fathers at Accenture last week. There was a woman there who reported that her partner had continued working full-time after their first baby was born, while at the same time doing all the baby duties at home, including during the night. One day he fell asleep at the wheel of his car and ended up in an accident and in hospital.
The pressures on new fathers are enormous – they are expected to carry on working AND they are supposed to be hands on parents. New dads have a tendency to keep these struggles to themselves, given the stresses on the mother and the way they see their role as backing her up.
I don’t know what the answer to this is – I myself struggle the whole time with how to do everything – earn money, spend time with the children, spend time with my partner, spend time with my own parents and friends, stay fit, sleep enough. I can’t help thinking that the only way to cope is to have a little bit of all of these – but that means my partner has to have a bit of them all as well.
