Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
4/26/99
For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Virginia Molgaard, Human Development and Family Studies,
515-294-8762
Carol Ouverson, Extension Communications, 515-294-9640
Fathers Want More Family Time
Attempts to balance work and family often target mothers, but family expert James Levine said fathers are just as likely to feel the strain of juggling a career and a family.
"Both moms and dads are doing a lot of work and are feeling stressed," said Levine, the founder of The Fatherhood Project, an organization in New York working to help the workplace be more responsive to fathers. He spoke at Iowa State University recently as a part of an ISU Extension sponsored program.
Levine said fathers have an "invisible dilemma" because their struggle to work and have a positive relationship with their children often goes unnoticed, even though national surveys have found the same percentage of men and women reporting stress from the work-family conflict.
In February 1999, national media reported that a study confirmed that it was not harmful for young children who had mothers who worked full time. Levine said the actual title of the study was "Short-term and Long-term Effects of Early Parental Employment." It looked at the employment of both mothers and fathers, yet media reports only discussed working mothers.
"[Focusing only on mothers] tells us that moms make a difference in the life of kids and not dads," Levine said. "It makes only moms responsible for kids."
There has been a shift in the past 20 to 30 years, and more men have redefined what it means to be successful, Levine said. Men want to do more than provide for a family, they want to be close to their children and a part of their daily lives.
Fathers often do not talk about their struggle to balance work and family, nor does the culture make it easy for men to do so, according to Levine.
A woman is usually the parent to miss work when a child is sick, but Levine said most parents do not even ask a father's company to let him have time off work.
"Society feels it is a women's issue, when in reality women want men more involved [with their children], and men want to be more involved," Levine said. "Somewhere people get stuck."
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