- Typical Aussie dad a rarity now
- One News - NZ
- 07/09/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: moses ( 9 articles in 2008 )
The nuclear family image of the typical Aussie dad raising 2.3 kids with one life partner is more elusive than ever as households continue to change, new figures suggest.
There will be probably no such thing as an average Australian father unwrapping power tools and socks on Father's Day on Sunday, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
"Apart from the notion of a biological father there are men performing father roles in a variety of circumstances," spokeswoman Heather Crawford said.
More men are becoming stepfathers, men are becoming dads for the first time at a greater range of ages, some don't live with all their kids and some even live alone.
But one trend is clear - men living with children still overwhelmingly perform a traditional breadwinner role.
Of the 1,720,000 fathers living with their natural, adopted, step or foster children under 15, 92% were employed, with 29% of those working 50 hours or more each week.
The ABS results showed stepfathers massively outnumbered stepmothers, with 132,000 men stepping into the role compared to 30,000 women.
Crawford said that fact suggested men tended to move into new family households more commonly than women after relationship breakdown.
"Most one-parent families are headed by women," Crawford said.
The results, drawn from a variety of sources, found men became fathers for the first time at different ages, with 36% taking on the role between 25 and 30 years, compared with 13% of men aged over 35.
About 24% of new fathers were aged under 25 years.
While there were almost five million fathers in Australia in 2006-07, eight percent of men with children aged 0-17 don't live with at least one of them.
Of the non-resident fathers, 36% lived alone, while 31% of them lived with a partner and with children.
Results also indicated fathers living with their children under 15 spent an average of eight hours each week caring for them in 2006.
Activities included providing physical or emotional care, minding children, teaching or disciplining their children and reading or playing with children.
Crawford said the results showed women remained the primary caregivers to children under 15, and may engage in less paid work than their male partners.
"It probably reflects that fathers certainly have a role caring for their children, striving to balance that with the demands of work at that stage of life."
And they still love new socks on Father's Day.
There will be probably no such thing as an average Australian father unwrapping power tools and socks on Father's Day on Sunday, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
"Apart from the notion of a biological father there are men performing father roles in a variety of circumstances," spokeswoman Heather Crawford said.
More men are becoming stepfathers, men are becoming dads for the first time at a greater range of ages, some don't live with all their kids and some even live alone.
But one trend is clear - men living with children still overwhelmingly perform a traditional breadwinner role.
Of the 1,720,000 fathers living with their natural, adopted, step or foster children under 15, 92% were employed, with 29% of those working 50 hours or more each week.
The ABS results showed stepfathers massively outnumbered stepmothers, with 132,000 men stepping into the role compared to 30,000 women.
Crawford said that fact suggested men tended to move into new family households more commonly than women after relationship breakdown.
"Most one-parent families are headed by women," Crawford said.
The results, drawn from a variety of sources, found men became fathers for the first time at different ages, with 36% taking on the role between 25 and 30 years, compared with 13% of men aged over 35.
About 24% of new fathers were aged under 25 years.
While there were almost five million fathers in Australia in 2006-07, eight percent of men with children aged 0-17 don't live with at least one of them.
Of the non-resident fathers, 36% lived alone, while 31% of them lived with a partner and with children.
Results also indicated fathers living with their children under 15 spent an average of eight hours each week caring for them in 2006.
Activities included providing physical or emotional care, minding children, teaching or disciplining their children and reading or playing with children.
Crawford said the results showed women remained the primary caregivers to children under 15, and may engage in less paid work than their male partners.
"It probably reflects that fathers certainly have a role caring for their children, striving to balance that with the demands of work at that stage of life."
And they still love new socks on Father's Day.
Source: https://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/2061686
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