Articles
Canadian Dads @Home
By: John Hoffman
Canadian fathers are taking more time off work to be at home caring for children, according to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada. Specifically, the number of stay-home fathers has risen by 50% in the past twenty years, and the number of fathers taking paid paternal leave after a birth or adoption has increased 900% since 2001.
Stay-at-home Fathers
For many years Statistics Canada has been able to provide insight into trends in stay-at-home parenthood through analysis of data from the Labour Force Survey (LSF), the same survey that yields the unemployment numbers reported by news media each week. Recently obtained, unpublished data from the LSF shows that in 2008 there were approximately 54,205* stay-at-home fathers in Canada compared to 5,945 in 1989. And while the number of stay-home mothers in mother/father families has decreased dramatically - from 1. 5 million in 1976 to 465,060 in 2008 - the number of stay-home fathers has almost tripled since the mid 70s. In 1976 stay-at-home fathers represented only 1% of all stay-home parents, while in 2008 10% of the stay-home parents in Canadian mother/father families were men. *(see Footnote for explanation of recent changes this article)
Number of Stay home Fathers 1976 – 2008 * (in single earner, mother/father families with at least one child under 16 at home, excludes parents who are unemployed, studying full-time or unable to work due to a disability)
1976: 20,610
1984: 28,725
1991: 43,530
2000: 47, 665
2008: 54, 205
Proportion of all stay-home parents who are fathers
1976: 1%
1984: 3%
1991: 7%
2000: 8%
2008: 10%
It's important to keep in mind that this LFS data produces a rather strict definition of a stay-home parent: parent at home, not looking for work or going to school and no reported income. The actual number of men who identify themselves as stay-at-home-fathers is quite likely much higher than the LFS data indicates, because many of today's stay-at-home parents earn some income. Research conducted by FIRA's Andrea Doucet, of Carleton University, showed that stay-at-home fathers tend not to have fully relinquished their ties to the workforce to the extent that many women did in the 1950's and 1960s. In Doucet's qualitative study of over 100 primary caregiver fathers (Doucet 2006) roughly half of the stay-home fathers in her sample were actually working to some extent - either part-time or flexibly from home.
And, in fact, the new LFS data shows that, although the overall number of Canadian families with children under 16 has not changed appreciably since the mid, 1970s, the number of fathers in dual-earner couples who work part-time rather than full-time has increased steadily, from 6,555 1976 to 47,210 in 2008. Given Doucet’s findings it’s safe to assume that some of these men spend part of their non-employed time caring for children and think of themselves as stay-home fathers.
This increase in the numbers of stay-home fathers can be partially attributed to evolving attitudes about gender roles in parenting. However, some of the increase may be due to the fact that women are more likely to out earn their male partners than in the past. When families wish to have one parent at home while children are young, the decision about which parent stays home has always been partly economic, taking into account who has the highest salary, benefits and job security.
In the 1970's about 15% of women in dual-earner families out earned their partners. By the mid 1990's the proportion had jumped to over 25% reaching a high of 29% in 2003 (Sussman and Bonnell 2006.) About 15% of primary earner wives had preschoolers at home in 2003. Thus, it seems likely that the increasing phenomenon of the primary earner female partner partly explains the steady increase in the ranks of stay-home fathers.
Men's Use of Parental Leave
The number of Canadian fathers taking paid parental leave after a birth or adoption has skyrocketed in the past decade. In 2001 only 3% of eligible men applied for parental leave benefits (Marshall, 2008). In 2007 27% percent of eligible fathers filed for parental leave benefits, a nine-fold increase in just six years. (Statistics Canada, 2009)
Most of that change is due to a sharp increase in the use of paternal leave in the province of Quebec, where the new Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, implemented in January 1, 2006, introduced "Daddy Days," five weeks of paid paternal leave which cannot be transferred to the mother. And the numbers show that Quebec fathers are taking this leave. In Quebec, 73.6%* of all fathers took paid parental leave in 2007 compared to 28% in 2005. (Statistics Canada, 2008)
*includes fathers who were not eligible for paid parental leave
Men's use of paid parental leave is lower, though still on the rise, in Canadian provinces that do not offer Daddy Days. In 2006 11%of eligible men outside Quebec filed for paid parental leave (Marshall, 2008) That's an almost fourfold increase since 2001 when the rate was 3%.
Even men who don't qualify for paid paternal leave are more likely to spend time at home after a birth or adoption than in the past. Data from the General Social Survey of 2006, shows that 55% of all Canadian fathers take some sort of leave from work (including unpaid leave and vacation time) around the time their children are born or adopted, up from 38% in 2001. (Beaupré and Cloutier, 2007).
One more indication of father's increasing involvement on the home front is their use of short-term leave for personal or family reasons. Canadian fathers of preschoolers missed an average of 6.3 work days for personal or family reasons in 2007, up from 1.8 days in 1997. (Marshall 2008)
The growing number of stay-at-home fathers and men's increased use of parental and family leave provide further evidence of the evolving role of Canadian men in the provision of child care. While mothers are still more likely than fathers to be at home caring for children, fathers have increased their involvement significantly, suggesting that paternal care of children has become an increasingly important child care resource for Canadian families.
Sources:
Unpublished data from the Labour Force Survey. 2009. Statistics Canada.
Doucet, Andrea. 2006. Do Men Mother? Fathering, Care, and Domestic Responsibility. Toronto. University of Toronto Press.
Sussman, Deborah, Bonnell, Stephanie. 2006. Wives as Primary Breadwinners. Perspectives on Labour and Income 7 (8), August 2006, Statistics Canada. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/10806/9291-eng.htm
Marshall, Katherine, 2008. Fathers' Use of Paid Parental Leave. Perspectives on Labour and Income 9 (6), June 2008, Statistics Canada.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/2008106/pdf/10639-eng.pdf
Fathers and mothers…by the numbers. Statistics Canada, published online June, 11, 2009
http://www42.statcan.ca/smr08/smr08_130-eng.htm
The Daily. July 24, 2008. Statistics Canada. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/080724/dq080724b-eng.htm
Beaupré, Pascale, Cloutier, Elisabeth. 2006. Navigating Family Transitions: Evidence from the General Social Survey. Analytical Paper, General Social Survey, Cycle 20: Family Transitions Survey. Statistics Canada.
*Footnote: A previous version of Canadian Dads@Home, posted on this website in June 2009, reported higher numbers and percentages of stay-home fathers than are indicated here. Subsequent analysis of the unpublished LSF data, by Statistics Canada, revealed that previously reported stay-home parent numbers included parents who were students and those who reported being unable to work. This article has been to reflect a definition of stay-home parent which includes only those who report being at home by choice.
