To answer the question we must first define “bad.” Are we talking Alec Baldwin bad, Jon Gosselin bad, Mel Gibson bad or “Slumdog Millionaire” dad bad? Or, do you lump your child’s co-parent into the “bad” category due to his lack of participation in the daily upbringing of the child he clearly participated in conceiving?
If you selected the latter, then you might be interested in the results of a new study that examines the gap between genders when it comes to “unpaid economy” or what us lay folk refer to as the daily grind of housework and childcare.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published research collected from 29 industrialized countries, which shows that moms work harder than dads when it comes to parenting and housework. According to the study, women typically spend nearly 2.5 hours more per day on tasks, such childcare, laundry, cooking and cleaning. In addition, OECD researchers also found that out-of-work fathers spend less time caring for their kids than their working wives.
The good news is that not all dads are slackers. According to the study, some dads fared better than others depending on their homeland status. For example, researchers found that working dads in Australia scored at the top of the heap when it comes to spending time with their kids. Research shows that Aussie dads spend 69 minutes per day with their offspring. Compare that to dads in South Korea who clock a mere 12 minutes a day on childcare.
In terms of helping around the house, dads in Denmark fared the best logging an average of two hours a day cleaning and cooking, and roughly 40 minutes per day helping with childcare. Meanwhile, in the United States, the study shows moms spend about 200 minutes per day sweating away at unpaid domestic labor while their male partners expend less than half that amount of time.
Other noteworthy stats from the study include: Turkish, Mexican and Indian dads spend between 4 and 5 hours less time on childcare responsibilities and housework than their female counterparts. While in Scandinavia, dads complete only about an hour of unpaid domestic work less than moms on a daily basis.
So what does this all mean?
If the division of labor in your house is dramatically unequal, then you could ship your husband off to Denmark and have dads there school him in ways to help around the house or take the trip yourself and get a tutorial from Danish women on how to whip your baby daddy into shape.
How much does your spouse help around the house and with the kids?