Men at Work: what they want any why it matters for women

More than 150 people attended the launch in Melbourne last night of Men at Work: what they want any why it matters for women, The 100% Project’s latest research report.

Many of our Champions were in the audience to hear Sue Conde, Catherine Fox, Bob Wood and Richard Umbers talk about the research in a panel discussion led by Dr Barbara West, a 100% Project Board member.

Australia Post generously sponsored the event and, thanks to PwC, who videoed the discussion, you will soon be able to see excerpts on our website. Master Photographer David Israel’s pictures from the event will also be posted soon.

In the meantime you can read a two page summary of the event or the full research report on our website 

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Working with Young Males in Psychotherapy: Implications of the Findings of Boyhood Studies (USA)

Boys are now among the most challenging groups with whom we work as psychotherapists. During the past two decades, boyhood has received special attention, and with good reason: boyhood is being radically redefined. As a result, the number of vulnerable boys who require our attention and care has increased significantly. Some of them are just entering kindergarten; others are graduating from high school or college and manoeuvering their way in a world of work that has increasingly fewer places for them; a decreasing number are in graduate school. Ever more are disconnected, disaffiliated and adrift.

Fathering in Australia among couple families with young children

There has been growing recognition of the importance of fathers to families in recent years. Societal trends, such as rising levels of employment among mothers of young children and recognition of the importance of the father–child relationship, have given more prominence to the contribution that fathers make to family life. Governments are increasingly interested in creating conditions that can foster fathers’ involvement in families; for example, through promoting more flexible working arrangements or by ensuring that children maintain contact with fathers following family breakdown. This growing interest in the role of fathers has been mirrored in the scientific community. However, there has been a limited amount of research on fathers in Australia, with the result that there remains much to be learnt about the ways that Australian fathers contribute to families and how they feel about themselves as fathers.

This report aims to increase understanding of the many ways in which fathers in couple families with young children contribute to family life, through the study of their time investment with children, their supportiveness as partners, their financial contribution, their parenting behaviours and styles, and their perceptions of their own adequacy as fathers. The impact of fathers on children’s wellbeing is also examined.

Our dads better than yours: Aussies lead world in parenting

Australian fathers have a poor reputation for sharing the housework and childcare. But it's all relative, isn't it? Compared to fathers in Italy or France, Australian dads are domestic paragons, a new study shows. Even compared to fathers in Denmark, where the government supports their involvement in childcare, Australian dads hold their own. "They do less than Australian women but they compare favourably to men in some other countries," says Lyn Craig, a senior research fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW.

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Becoming a Dad: Employment Trajectories of Married, Cohabiting, and Nonresident Fathers

This article considers how becoming a father affects men's employment levels and tests whether the effects of fatherhood differ by the relationship of the father to the child's mother at the time of the birth. Prior to becoming a father, married men worked more hours per week and more weeks per year than cohabiting and nonresident fathers. By five years after the birth, differences in employment between unmarried and married fathers had diminished. The transition to fatherhood is associated with an increase in employment for unmarried fathers but is not associated with significant changes in employment for married fathers.