Celebrated with enthusiasm in books and films since the 1990s, "new fathers" are hard to spot when delving into the dry world of statistics on "parenting tasks." While the discourse on fatherhood has changed, few children indeed grow up, day after day, in an equal and balanced family. "The involvement of fathers in the domestic sphere is a crucial dimension of gender equality, but, in France, inequalities remain significant," said sociologist Estelle Herbaut in a study conducted for the French Foundation for Social Sciences.

A junior professor with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) specializing in educational inequality, the researcher is basing this severe diagnosis on the first nationwide survey dedicated to children's environments: the French Longitudinal Study of Children (ELFE). Led by the National Institute for Demographic Studies and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, this questionnaire has been tracking over 18,000 children born in 2011 over 20 years and is very detailed. It concerns children's health, schooling, diet, family, social life and environment.

The interviews with each parent are full of details that reveal the little arrangements that govern a couple's daily life: who does the shopping, who handles the laundry, who loads the dishwasher, who gets up when the child cries at night, who changes diapers, who takes them to daycare, who draws or sings with them; but also who bathes them, cuts their nails or wipes their nose. For all these tasks, the researcher doesn't just gather information. They also look into each parent's feelings.

Fathers are adapting

The picture painted by this survey is different from that of the 1950s or 1970s, but it is still far − very far − from demonstrating an equitable division of labor. Couples where the father is as involved, or even more so, than the mother remain a minority, especially when the child is young, observed Herbaut. While in Scandinavian countries, men fully assume their role with the baby, their French counterparts stand on the sidelines. When the child is 2 months old, they participate in only 30% of parenting tasks. In France, concluded the researcher, care for infants "is still considered the mother's domain."

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