Increased fathering: Effects on the mother

In this chapter, we are asking a question about the future, namely: What is the effect on the mother’s life of increased parenting by the father? There is a general agreement among the various scholars that at present the father’s participation is not high, that truly shared parenting is still rare, and that the mother’s employ- ment may increase the father’s role somewhat but not very substantially. To be- gin this inquiry, then, it is necessary first to establish that it is reasonable to as- sume that fathers will become more actively involved in parenting.