Education

Expert Predicts Era of Mr. Mom: ‘Men Now Might Be More Likely to Stay at Home, Doing Traditional Child Rearing’

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor’s degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids.

Census figures released Tuesday highlight the latest education milestone for women, who began to exceed men in college enrollment in the early 1980s. The findings come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers.

Expert Predicts Era of Mr. Mom: Men Now Might Be More Likely to Stay at Home, Doing Traditional Child Rearing

The educational gains for women are giving them greater access to a wider range of jobs, contributing to a shift of traditional gender roles at home and work. Based on one demographer’s estimate, the number of stay-at-home dads who are the primary caregivers for their children reached nearly 2 million last year, or one in 15 fathers. The official census tally was 154,000, based on a narrower definition that excludes those working part-time or looking for jobs.

“The gaps we‘re seeing in bachelor’s and advanced degrees mean that women will be better protected against the next recession,” said Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint who is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

“Men now might be the ones more likely to be staying home, doing the more traditional child rearing,” he said.

Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million U.S. women have master’s degrees or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared to 10.9 percent of men – a gap steadily narrowing in recent years. Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering.

When it comes to finishing college, roughly 20.1 million women have bachelor’s degrees, compared to nearly 18.7 million men – a gap of more than 1.4 million that has remained steady in recent years. Women first passed men in bachelor’s degrees in 1996.

Some researchers including Perry have dubbed the current economic slump a “man-cession” because of the huge job losses in the male-dominated construction and manufacturing industries, which require less schooling. Measured by pay, women with full-time jobs now make 78.2 percent of what men earn, up from about 64 percent in 2000.

Unemployment for men currently stands at 9.3 percent compared to 8.3 percent for women, who now make up half of the U.S. work force. The number of stay-at-home moms, meanwhile, dropped last year for a fourth year in a row to 5 million, or roughly one in four married-couple households. That’s down from nearly half of such households in 1969.

By the census’ admittedly outmoded measure, the number of stay-at-home dads has remained largely flat in recent years, making up less than 1 percent of married-couple households.

Whatever the exact numbers, Census Bureau researchers have detailed a connection between women’s educational attainment and declines in traditional stay-at-home parenting. For instance, they found that stay-at-home mothers today are more likely to be young, foreign-born Hispanics who lack college degrees than professional women who set aside careers for fulltime family life after giving birth.

“We’re not saying the census definition of a `stay-at-home’ parent is what reflects families today. We’re simply tracking how many families fit that situation over time,” said Rose Kreider, a family demographer at the Census Bureau. She said in an interview that the bureau’s definition of a stay-at-home parent is based on a 1950s stereotype of a breadwinner-homemaker family that wasn‘t necessarily predominant then and isn’t now.

Beth Latshaw, an assistant professor of sociology at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., notes the figures are based on a narrow definition in which the wife must be in the labor force for the entire year and the husband be outside the official labor force for the specifically cited reason of “taking care of home and family.”

Her own survey found that many fathers who had primary child-care responsibility at home while working part-time or pursuing a degree viewed themselves as stay-at-home fathers. When those factors are included as well as unmarried and single dads, the share of fathers who stay at home to raise children jumps from less than 1 percent to more than 6 percent.

Put another way, roughly one of every five stay-at-home parents is a father.

The remaining share of households without stay-at-home parents – the majority of U.S. families – are cases where both parents work full-time while their children attend school or day care or are watched by nannies or grandparents, or where fathers work full-time while the mothers work part-time and care for children part-time.

“There‘s still a pervasive belief that men can’t care for children as well as women can, reinforcing the father-as-breadwinner ideology,” said Latshaw, whose research is being published next month in the peer-reviewed journal “Fathering.” She is urging census to expand its definition to highlight the growing numbers, which she believes will encourage wider use of paternity leave and other family-friendly policies.

The new “Mr. Moms” include Todd Krater, 38, of Lakemoor, Ill., a Chicago suburb. Krater has been a self-described stay-at-home dad for the past seven years to his three sons after his wife, who earned a master’s business degree, began to flourish in her career as a software specialist.

Krater said he found it difficult adjusting at first and got little support from other mothers who treated him as an outcast at school functions. He eventually started writing a blog, “A Man Among Mommies,” to encourage other fathers to take a larger role in child care and says he now revels in seeing more dads at the park, library and school events.

“What was once an uncommon sight of a dad with the kids during the day is becoming more and more prevalent,” said Krater, who is now studying part-time to become a registered nurse. “But many still feel the pressure of gender roles and feel if they don’t make money they are somehow less of a man.”

The census numbers come from the government’s Current Population Survey as of March 2010. Among other findings:

-Among adults 25 and older, women are more likely than men to have finished high school, 87.6 percent to 86.6 percent.

-Broken down by race and ethnicity, 52 percent of Asian-Americans had at least a bachelor’s degree. That’s compared to 33 percent for non-Hispanic whites, 20 percent for blacks and 14 percent for Hispanics.

-Thirty percent of foreign-born residents in the U.S. had less than a high school diploma, compared to 10 percent of U.S.-born residents and 19 percent of naturalized citizens. At the same time, the foreign-born population was just as likely as U.S.-born residents to have at least a bachelor’s degree, at roughly 30 percent.

Jeremy Adam Smith, author of the 2009 book “The Daddy Shift: How Stay-at-Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms and Shared Parenting are Transforming the American Family,” described a cultural shift as women began to surpass men in college enrollment in the 1980s. The 1983 movie, “Mr. Mom,” openly broached the idea that out-of-work fathers can contribute to families as stay-at-home dads, allowing more men to be accepting of the role in subsequent recessions, he said.

“Over the long term, the numbers are just going to keep going up,” Smith said.

Comments (90)

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  • RightPolitically
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:25pm

    Well, why not have the men stay home and rear the kids? What we have to figure out now is, how to have them grow milk bearing breasts so they can also nurse the young. This country has sissified men, created a new-castrati of sorts and lost its way COMPLETELY! Pathetic.

    Report Post » RightPolitically  
    • Who Watches the Watchers
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:47pm

      Thats not always the case. My wife is a Nurse who puts un-g-dly amount of hours in at work. I am a gunsmith who thanks to local gunstore contracts allows me to work out of my home. Isn’t it better that one parent be at home than none at all? You don’t have to be out of the home working 60 hours a week to raise boys. Id rather be there for them and take that “masculinity” hit.

      Report Post »  
  • ClockKing
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:21pm

    Total BS. So-called advanced degrees are in junk studies. And men don’t stay home, they do something. If these fools think a nation of women-in-charge is going to survive in a world of Mexican Drug lords who shoot children, Al-Qaeda type who blow up anything that offends them, and Sharia communities who feed off of PC-ism and multi-culti-crap, they got another thing coming.

    Report Post » ClockKing  
  • superbyelich
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:20pm

    When women start surpassing men in the hard labor jobs, then I think this would be saying something. You gotta look at that factor, Men are more spread out as far as different jobs go I would think. And also if women won’t raise their kids, someone has to. I for one would step up to the plate if need be, though I do think that a mother is best for the job.

    Report Post » superbyelich  
  • 3Bigdogs
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:16pm

    More woman entering the work force…

    Soon the think tank studies will conclude that stress in the work place is taking it’s toll on women. You will then see in females, an increase in work related diseases that have been killing men for years — heart disease, stroke, different types of cancers — all bought about by job related stress…Men will then start outliving their wives…Consequences…

    Report Post »  
  • welovetheUSA
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:15pm

    Good……..the last two generations of mothers have raised prissy men….maybe the men will start raising men for a change.

    Report Post » welovetheUSA  
  • RagingTiger
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:13pm

    This author’s conclusion is wrong due to backwardization, in my opinion.

    Its based on the assumption that institutional advanced education is a cause of higher income and greater stability, which is false. It *IS* a correllative effect, but not a causative effect. In other words, it tends to happen simultaneously (like mustard & ketchup tend to occur on hotdogs,) but one isn’t causing the other.

    Sociologists have long recognized that females tend to have shorter and less stable careers (*TENDANCY* being the key here… not *always*… but dramatically more than males) due to physiological realities. Specifically, males have no uterus nor milk-producing breasts, and thus cannot take over the roughly 2-3 year period of gestation, delivery, and primary nursing of offspring (PER each offspring.)

    Further, since every employer knows that the odds of losing a female to “family development” is simply higher than that of a male… *AND* that the odds of a male being emotionally leveraged to over-work and over-extend IN COMPENSATION to their family stacks the economics in favor of hiring a male for long-term career positions, and competitively compensating them to retain.

    LASTLY; Traditional institutional “higher education” is a bubble at or nearing its peak right now… Its pricing cannot be sustainable in the current bloating trend, and its attendance growth (and dropping of standards in order to accomodate the attendance growth) virtually guarantee that the employers of tomorrow will discount is value in an employee to the point where it no longer makes sense for the employee to have invested the years & money to get the institutional degree in the 1st place.

    Employers of the future are far more likely to place a premium value on specialized education acquired via technology (i.e. “virtual university”) since that will be the universe of production that the employees will be working in.

    Ironically… *THAT* will be the much greater “gender equalizer”….

    Report Post »  
  • Dash Riprock
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:11pm

    “Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering.”

    Sorry ladies, but that above says a lot right there. No offense.

    Report Post » Dash Riprock  
  • islandlady
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:40pm

    It already seems to be happening with older men. They loose their testosterone and become caregivers, women loose there hormones and become workers. I would think men who
    are really into their identity of being the breadwinner and into their identity being attached to their sucess and self asteem would shy away from becoming the babysitter.

    Report Post » islandlady  
  • Jethro212
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:38pm

    My wife = Pharmacist
    Me = raises kids

    We often joke that she should be come a teacher so I can work again, those hard long nasty 7.5 hour days mixed in with 3.5 months off, it’d be rough.

    I cannot work, as my wife works 12 hour days, that would me 14 hour day care days (my job required me to be gone for days sometimes) therefore, I stay home (which works out pretty well honestly). It is comical meeting people she has worked with (mostly women) and the husbands are engineering or techincal and we ALL stay home with the kids.

    Report Post »  
  • dovesong
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:25pm

    That’s the plan, take the man out of his traditional role and make him less apt to fight against tyranny.

    Report Post »  
    • CatB
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:50pm

      That might not work out exactly has they have planned .. the dad’s will have more time for paying attention to what is going on in the real world and not just the job world. Women have know a lot about what was going on for years … many were just misguided by feminists .. I don‘t think that will happen with the dad’s.

      Report Post »  
    • kayo
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:50pm

      Actually I think living with a toddler really gets you used to dealing with tyranny.

      Report Post »  
  • bikerr
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:18pm

    Ah ,if they asked an expert why is the expert saying“ might” as in ‘Men Now Might Be More Likely to Stay at Home, Doing Traditional Child Rearing’ If he is an expert shouldn’t he know for sure. If he doesn‘t then he’s no expert.

    Report Post »  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:16pm

    Considering the child raising skills of today’s mothers, demonstrated by today’s kids, it might actually work out to the good.

    Report Post »  
  • momprayn
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:12pm

    Oh why not — it goes along nicely with the first male pregnancy – http://www.malepregnancy.com/
    And…let’s see …..operations/hormones that make males females and vice versa……and same sex marriages that have the same sex for a mom and dad. Yes – sounds wonderful…utopia at last.
    Personally, I take this as the results of the feminist movement, where women were encouraged and obsessed with proving and acting the same as men (sweet revenge you know)…most of which were/are females that are unhappy with being female and/or don’t like males very much….many insecurities & abused. I’ve watched as this has made men afraid of women & has “demasculated” them. I’m all for men being thoughtful and helpful but I also want them to be the man/masculine and me the woman/feminine – equal as human beings but different in many ways that complement each other with their unique make up….the way God intended. To me, in general, this makes the women feel theyve attained their goal to be more like men……bad idea, ladies & therefore I think this report is very discouraging & not a good sign for families. I understand that some women are not suited to be mothers & men fathers, and many men are terrible at being husbands/fathers, but this development where the roles are reversed is just not good. Between the homosexuals which seem to be everywhere and these other demasculated men who are scared of women, I‘m afraid I’d be pretty hard pressed to find a real man I’m afraid – glad I got mine decades ago….

    Report Post »  
  • chips1
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:06pm

    He ought to know. I’m not investing in anymore gold. I’m putting my money in the shoe market. I have a feeling “LOAFERS” are going to make a come back.

    Report Post »  
  • OLDBIKEFIXER
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:04pm

    Been there, done that. My daughter had her first motorcycle ride (on a Triumph Tiger 750) when she was 6 months old. She’s been unafraid of anything ever since. Dads are way more fun than moms… just ask any kid raised by their father.

    By the way… I was employed, but I worked night-shift and my wife worked day shift.

    Report Post » OLDBIKEFIXER  
  • miles from nowhere
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:04pm

    Did anyone ask the question to a majority of these Mr. Moms if they were raised in a single parent household that the onlt parent was a woman? This may shed light on why there are so many Mr. Moms.

    Report Post »  
    • Pear
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 9:06pm

      Miles,

      I have been a stay at home dad for about 6 years now. I had both parents at home growing up. The reason I decided to stay at home was because it was hectic for both my wife and I. My wife made more money so it made more sense for me to stay at home. We are both educated so for me it wasn’t an issue of not having a degree to get a decent job. I will tell you that it has changed my life tremendously. I have become a much more patient person since staying home with my kids. At first it took time to get used to being a stay at home dad but I am used to it and I would not change my situation for any amount of money.

      I will eventually go back to work but the only way it will be sooner than later is if Glenn and Rush are taken off the air.

      Pear

      Report Post »  
  • orlandojon
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:03pm

    This is actually not that far fetched. Have you noticed that for at least 10 years white men have been shown on TV as the boob and the fall guy, while women and minorities are the all knowing, got it together persona? This is social engineering and it’s not by accident.

    Report Post »  
    • psst
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 11:08pm

      You bet yer bippy that it’s no accident.
      Mucho subliminal messaging and outright propaganda.

      Report Post »  
    • GhostOfJefferson
      Posted on April 27, 2011 at 8:20am

      Quite correct. The self esteem of boys, and men, has been hacked at relentlessly for decades now, especially since the 1990′s forward. We’ve created an entire generation of low self esteem, listless and timid “men”, who aspire to nothing and want nothing but to be taken care of by others. Meanwhile, women are given the “Wonder Woman and the Wimp” model where woman is superior, hear her roar, and are instructed that they are in all ways superior to those stupid boys (”grrrrl power!”).

      Psychology is at play here, and given the absolute prevalence of these two memes across the broad media and entertainment spectrum, it doesn’t appear to be accidental.

      Society will indeed reap the rewards of promoting mushy feeling emotionalism over cold hard logic driven engineering types. Just wait and see.

      I notice, by the way, that the fields that produce real hard technologies and innovation remain virtually vacant of the fairer sex, by choice of the fairer sex. Imagine what the future holds for us. Think about that one if you will.

      Report Post » GhostOfJefferson  
  • AMERICAN FOREVER FOREVER AMERICAN
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:59pm

    People have the right to take on the role that they fit best in. BUT THIS IS NOT THE NATURAL ORDER. I have been working ever since I was able to become a paper boy and my wife will never HAVE to work to provide for our family. These men need to have their VJ removed.

    Report Post »  
  • Workforit
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:55pm

    We need to admit that some women don’t have the genetic building blocks needed to be functioning mothers. Just because women can breed doesn’t mean they should. I lived it, I was a single Dad before it was cool to be a single Dad. My kids “survived” their irresponsible mother… and they paid a high price.

    Report Post »  
    • OLDBIKEFIXER
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:05pm

      Truer words have not been spoken!

      Report Post » OLDBIKEFIXER  
    • WHITE LOTUS2x
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 9:31pm

      Workforit……. my son too is raising his children alone. Proud of him. It takes a good man to do so. Lotus.

      Report Post »  
  • where is JG
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:52pm

    you mean i get to take away the woobie and teach them about the Constitution and God given rights? COOL!

    Report Post » where is JG  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:49pm

    whats up with the new posting format????? censorship sucks

    Report Post » Psychosis  
    • chips1
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:22pm

      I’m glad to hear that your format was also changed. I thought they were only after me.
      P.S. Are we still allowed to use the word “sucks”?

      Report Post »  
    • WHITE LOTUS2x
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 9:20pm

      Chips1…..dont try to use the word crap. Lotus.

      Report Post »  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:47pm

    but, they fail to mention what those degrees are in ……………………liberal arts degrees are worth less than a full diaper , and the brains of such degree holders are even more stinky

    Report Post » Psychosis  
  • PACMAN55
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:46pm

    get me a beer honey while you are up ….thanks pookie!!!

    Report Post » PACMAN55  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:44pm

    Well if dad keeps his job mom can always shove her kids in day care to be raised by people with no other way to make a living,except baby sitting, earning minimum wage, and teaching them their values. Kind of makes you wonder why mom bothered having them. But as a feminist, she can take care of what’s really important, her precious career.

    Report Post »  
  • Aikes
    Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:43pm

    Next stop, cougars, trophy husbands, and women who want to marry more than one man. Culture evolves over time. That doesn’t make it bad or wrong, just like your grandparents may not have been allowed to wear pants if female, dance, or be seen alone with the opposite sex, that was their culture and the one that will be here in another three generations or so will not be the one you are used to either. Your great grandparents would probably consider you all heathens but you probably see yourself as pretty righteous folk. Just accept that culture changes over time, just as does music, language, and pretty much everything.

    Report Post » Aikes  
    • AzDebi
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 6:56pm

      Sorry…OFF TOPIC:

      You gotta watch this:

      Bill Whittle does Part 1 regarding Obama’s upbringing…fantastic! Too bad the “lamestream” media won’t air this…it is disturbing! (Trevor Loudon has a new website…used to be newzealblogspot)

      http://trevorloudon.com/2011/04/the-enigma-part-1-strange-bedfellows/

      Report Post » AzDebi  
    • stifroc
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:11pm

      It took a “think tank” and “research” to discover that more men are staying home while the women work? Just go to the public pool during the day in the summer!!!! I’ve been watching this trend for the past 5 years. Doing much of my work via laptop at the pool while the kids swim I see more and more men taking care of the kids each summer…. either that or it’s the unemployment I have been watching… not sure which it is now….

      Report Post » stifroc  
    • planecrashlaw
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:31pm

      You are making way too much sense. Your average Blazer hasn‘t evolved much since the 1950’s or 1960′s. Hard working white folks, 10 cent Cokes and women and minorities who knew their place. And Hippies and Commies everywhere!

      Report Post »  
    • mattwakulik
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 7:43pm

      yes but does getting a college degree simply prove that you will be getting a high paying job?? isnt it true that this service sector economy have to eventually stop and a more productive economy, based on factories and other manufacturing facilities, have to grow? i think this article is taking alot of things for granted. just tell me, where are all these female college graduates going to work when that switch comes about?

      Report Post » mattwakulik  
    • VanGrungy
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 8:03pm

      maurice strong only had a Manitoba high school education…

      even dunces can become king of the world

      Report Post » VanGrungy  
    • Professional Infidel
      Posted on April 26, 2011 at 10:21pm

      Nobody washes the dishes like me. i/e includes cleaning the kitchen.

      Report Post »  
    • JEANNIEMAC
      Posted on April 27, 2011 at 12:02am

      Years ago, Norman Lear produced a TV program wherein women bore the children, because such an important job could only be done by women. Then, the men took care of the children and the house. Women were the politicians, bankers, etc. The program did not last too long, as it was way ahead of its time.

      Report Post »  
    • farmerpat42
      Posted on April 27, 2011 at 5:55am

      Just to play devil’s advocate, let me pose the situation in the reverse: This study could show that men are incresingly becoming marginalized and LEFT out (see what I did there? ;)) of opportunities to advance in education. Women are given extra chances and opportunities through support structures exclusive to their gender.

      President Obama recently said that the wage gap was still present between genders – but when you look at the under-35s, women have a few % advantage now. Can we please focus on true equality rather than trying to force the issue the other way?

      Also something to think about is WHAT jobs are the women getting out of University? There’s a reason our focus on science is shrinking – it‘s something that woman’s ‘equality’ programs haven’t been able to forcefully correct.

      However, when it’s all said and done – I am 30, without a degree (currently enrolled to finally finish) but I make more than my wife whom does have her degree (and we both work white-collar jobs). I think any gaps that do exist are interest based and not something systemic.

      Report Post »  
    • jackrorabbit
      Posted on April 27, 2011 at 9:49am

      Well, I am a “Mr. Mom” as I stay home as the home schooling parent, while my wife works. Each family is different, but I happen to be the better teacher, so I am home.

      Report Post »  
    • mza9
      Posted on April 28, 2011 at 5:07am

      Culture is created from the top down and the direction it is heading is very bad for humanity actually! Read Plato’s works if you want to better understand the before mentioned comment, was gonna use the word “statement”, but I caught myself. ;)

      Report Post »  
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