High-Powered Dads Are Spending Less Time at Work, More on Childcare

For the first time in a generation, college-educated fathers are spending substantially more time on their homes and kids than they did just a few years ago, often cutting working hours to do it.

Their changing behavior has revitalized a narrowing of gaps with women — in both unpaid and paid work — that had largely stagnated for more than two decades. Between the three-year period ending in 2019 and the three-year period ending in 2024, college-educated dads boosted time spent on housework and childcare by more than four hours per week, while reducing paid work by six hours, according to new research published Wednesday.