Why are dads getting all the praise for parenting?

How long do you have? In all seriousness, we love dads, and millennial dads are absolutely raising the bar on what it looks like to be a father. 

This chat is about society, and why dads seem to get praised for their parenting while mums are just… plain old parenting (and complaining about it on their hot mum walks, IYKYK). Our listeners had a lot to say on this one when we opened the polls up – 96% of you thought that dads do get more praise for parenting. 

Is it because of deeply entrenched traditional gender roles? Is it a general lack of care for mothers and motherhood? Is it mums being cast as the ‘default’ parent who are *just” doing what’s expected of them? Is it stereotyped language around dad’s being ‘hands on’ or ‘babysitting’ their own kids? 

Listen and hear from us, as well as you, our listeners, as we break this one down together. 

Studies/articles mentioned in this chat:

• Grattan Institute Research on parenting dynamics in early years.

• UN Data 2023 on Unpaid Domestic Work in Australia and NZ.

• Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey 2022 on housework division.

• Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2022 on Traditional Gender Norms.

• University of Queensland study on gender pay gap and parenting roles.

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