The division of household and parenting labor between men and women and moms and dads has been a source of conflict for generations. Given today’s economic forces and the way they impact our work lives, it’s perhaps never been more contentious than it is now.
One generation, however, seems poised to change all of that, bringing unprecedented equality to parenting and household labor. But even as revolutionary as this change is, today’s young people are still falling into the same old patterns when it comes to gender roles.
A poll revealed Gen Z parents have the most equal division of household labor.
Times have been changing when it comes to gender roles for a while now, especially since millennials entered adulthood. Still, the staggering number of moms who report extreme burnout from the untenable load their household and parenting labor presents — and the lack of help many receive from their spouses — shows how out of balance things have remained.
A 2022 Ohio State University study found that 68% of working moms reported feeling totally burned out by their household and parental workload — compared to just 42% of dads.
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But now that they’re of child-rearing age, the oldest members of Gen Z seem poised to right this ship — to some extent, anyway.
A poll by parenting website BabyCenterof more than 400 Gen Z and millennial moms who are pregnant or have at least one child under five, found that Gen Z parents are approaching domestic life with an equality likely never seen before.
Gen Z dads are more than twice as likely to take on parenting and household labor than millennial partners.
If it seems like younger dads are far more involved in parenting and housework than previous generations, BabyCenter’s data reveals that it’s likely not just perception.
BabyCenter
They found that Gen Z partners of moms are more than twice as likely to take on household tasks and child-rearing duties than their millennial counterparts.
This includes duties at the center of the much-vaunted “weaponized incompetence” epidemic, like making kids’ doctor’s appointments, meal planning, shopping for the home, and cleaning.
When it comes to shopping for things specifically for the kids, like clothes, toys, and supplies, Gen Z dads and partners are three times more likely to handle these tasks than Millennials. They’re also three times as likely to change their kids’ diapers — a task only about 2% of millennial moms said their partner helps with.
But even with these shifts, moms are still doing the bulk of the work, including among Gen Z.
Gen Z parents may be approaching these tasks with MORE equality than ever before, but BabyCenter’s data revealed a true 50/50 split in duties is far from the norm.
For example, just 25% of moms that BabyCenter spoke to overall reported that their partner helps them with diaper duty, and a staggering 9 in 10 said it is solely their job to do things like sort through their kids’ clothes and belongings as they outgrow them.
Allison Daminger, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in gender roles, told BabyCenter that this largely comes down to exactly what you’d suspect — cultural expectations on moms that dads don’t have to worry about.
“What I hear from the (moms) I interview is that, ‘If my kid goes to school and they’re dressed in mismatched outfits,'” Daminger told BabyCenter, “‘I’m going to be the one who people judge as being a neglectful mom. It’s not going to be my husband.'”
She said these uneven divisions of labor are even prevalent in same-sex households, though the gap is often much narrower as these couples tend to discuss it more and in more depth than their opposite-sex counterparts.
So we still have a long way to go before the burden is truly shared equally — and those burnout statistics start to reverse. Still, like so many other areas of life, Gen Z parents really do seem to be changing things in the right direction, and that much-needed progress is sure to set a trajectory for the future.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.
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