Researchers led by Lee Gettler of the University of Notre Dame, with coauthor Sarah Hoegler Dennis, analysed 15 years of longitudinal data from a major metropolitan area in the Philippines. The location experienced one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world. The team followed a large sample of men who were about 25 years old at the studys start and compared fathering before COVID (survey waves in 2009 and 2014) with fathering after the pandemic (2022023).
They measured routine hands-on care, recreational play and educational caregiving tasks. Overall, involvement after the pandemic resembled earlier levels; as Gettler puts it, "COVID didnt really lead to a large-scale uptick in this new vision for fathering on the part of dads across the board." The one clear and persistent difference concerned fathers whose employment fell: men who moved from employed to unemployed or underemployed spent noticeably more time on childrens educational care and maintained that change post-pandemic.
The researchers note that father involvement in Cebu had been rising over recent decades in patterns similar to the United States, but the pandemic itself did not create a broad lasting shift. Gettler argues that structural workplace policiesfor example paid paternity leave and greater flexibility to work from home or set hourscould enable fathers to remain involved without becoming unemployed or underemployed. The team also highlights remaining questions about how to encourage shared household and caregiving responsibilities in dual-parent families.
- Study: long-term, population-based data
- Key finding: few lasting changes overall
- Exception: employment-linked increase in educational care
Difficult words
- longitudinal — Data collected from the same people over time
- metropolitan — Relating to a large city or urban area
- lockdowns — Official restrictions on movement and activities
- underemployed — Working less than their skills or need
- caregiving — Providing daily care and support for others
- paternity leave — Paid time off for new fathers from workpaid paternity leave
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How could paid paternity leave and flexible work hours change fathers' involvement without increasing unemployment?
- Why might fathers who lost employment spend more time on children's educational care?
- What other policies or social changes could encourage shared household and caregiving responsibilities in dual-parent families?
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