In families with young children, working mothers still get up more often than fathers to care for the children, according a study out of the University of Michigan.
Researchers found significant inequalities which could have serious ramifications on the careers of working mothers.
After analyzing time-tracking diaries from approximately 20,000 American working parents who took part in the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Time Use Survey between 2003 and 2007, they found that men were not sharing child care duties equally–even when the mother worked outside the home.
In dual-income families with children under the age of one, 32 percent of the women reported getting up to care for the child, as opposed to only 11 percent of the men.
As the child aged, sleep interruptions decreased but remained unbalanced. With children between one to two years of age, 10 percent of working mothers reported getting up at night, compared to only two percent of working fathers. With children aged three to five, three percent of the working mothers got up, while only one percent of working fathers reported sleep interruptions.
The study found that these inequalities existed despite earning status. Even where the woman was the sole source of income in the household, 28 percent still reported sleep interruptions, versus only four percent of men who were the sole breadwinner.