Fatherhood and Men’s Involvement in Paid Work in Australia

Becoming a parent is an important transition in the life course, yet most research does not consider how becoming a father changes men’s lives. This chapter focuses on whether life events affect involvement in paid work for Australian men. Of central interest is whether becoming a father changes the hours men spend in employment, but other events that are considered include having additional children, getting married, completing education, changing supervisor or manager status, and buying a home. Most research that considers differences between fathers and non-fathers is cross-sectional and typically finds that fathers spend longer hours in employment than men who are not fathers. However, previous research is limited due to the potential effects of unobservable characteristics that are associated with both employment hours and the likelihood of becoming a father. Using four waves of data from the Negotiating the Life Course project, changes in men’s employment hours prior to and after the transition to fatherhood are examined using methods which account for unobservable characteristics. The findings demonstrate that there is an effect of becoming a father that increases employment hours for men. This increase in hours could be explained by ‘time-allocation’ theories, or by the process of men ‘doing gender’. There are also potential effects on father’s level of involvement in parenting as a result of increased employment hours.