Man Wants to Earn the Money and Woman Wants to Take Care of Children
Fathers appeared to be happier when they work full-time. And according to De Hoon, they want to fulfill the role of a good provider. The family must be maintained.
The same outcome applies to women when working part-time. Then they have more time for the family and get less into a mess with their job. However, he adds that this is specifically for families with school-aged children.
Conservative, but Still Happy
“Certainly if we compare it to other Western countries, we are more conservative”, says De Hoon. “Just the fact that dads have only two days of paternity leave shows how conservative we are. But since we are happy, then it's good, don't you think?” No, he says. “We are happy because we hold on to a certain social ideal”.
And, according to him, it is questionable if the conservative ideal is good for a family.
What Is Happiness?
He therefore recognizes an argument often given by feminists: financial independence for women is important, because mothers who work part-time might be happier; however, we should not forget that divorces are much more common than before.
And also for children, it is better if fathers are engaged more in childbirth. Part-time fathers may be unfortunate, but: “Scandinavian research indicates that in families where fathers are more involved in education, there are fewer conflicts and possibly fewer divorces”, says De Hoon.
Social Ideals May Be More Modern
“A more modern social ideal, therefore, does not mean that people get more unhappy”, he says. But only when the outside world appreciates that a family is run in a modern way. An extension of paternity leave seems to be the right first step towards such a progressive social ideal.
Source: https://www.rtlnieuws.nl
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