Father's Day Special: Working Dads Face Frustrating Challenges

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While the modern American dad wants to spend more quality time with his family and be a more hands-on father, society, as well as his employers, are not accommodating and adapting to that, according to a recent study. The research also found that working mothers are far more willing to sacrifice their jobs for the good of the children.

These conclusions are from a Father's Day study entitled "Work Life Balance: A Working Father's Perspective," by Bettermen Solutions founder, Cameron Phillips. The report finds that men are stuck between paradigms. "Men today are expected and indeed want to be more involved with their children," says Phillips, "but the traditional role of breadwinner is still making that very difficult."

Phillips found that 54 percent of working dads put "breadwinner" as their top parenting responsibility while less than 1 percent of working moms did. Meanwhile, 75 percent of working moms said they'd be willing to cut back work hours to support a spouse climbing the corporate ladder while just over 50 percent of dads said they would do the same.

"The easy conclusion to make would be that women are still expected to do it all while men get to focus on career, but that vastly misses the point," states Phillips. "The unaddressed issue is that we still undervalue fatherhood and expect little will change for men in the workplace once they become dads."

To support the claim, Phillips points to the fact that, when asked to describe how they were viewed by colleagues and employers, 50 percent of female respondents said "a working mother" while 75 percent of men responded simply, "a worker."

"Until we shift workplace expectations to recognize men as working fathers with unique needs, business will suffer, moms will shoulder the load at home and career women will continue to come up against the glass ceiling."