Dads used to only become primary caregivers when the economy was bad. That’s not the main reason fathers stay home anymore

– Who stays at home? The stay-at-home dad has long been an outlier compared to the stay-at-home mom. But, as my colleague Orianna Rosa Royle reports for Fortune, there’s a major difference when it comes to today’s stay-at-home fathers.

Dads in heterosexual marriages who decide to stay home with their kids are increasingly doing so as a proactive choice—not as a fallback option. While some fathers have always opted to stay home, often they’ve made the jump initially because of a layoff, retirement, or illness. During the 2008 financial crisis, for example, the number of American stay-at-home fathers surged, according to Pew Research Center.

Those are no longer the only situations compelling dads to take care of their kids full-time; 18% of stay-at-home parents in the U.S. today are fathers, compared to 5% two decades ago. During the pandemic, the number of stay-at-home dads increased by a third in the U.K.

“Men are starting to realize that missing crucial morning time and bedtime adds up,” Dave Murray Jones, an ad sales professional-turned-stay-at-home-dad, told Orianna. His stay-at-home fatherhood has led to the ultimate coup: His kids’ teachers finally started calling him, not just his wife, when something went wrong at school.

Women who stay in the workforce while raising kids often encounter the “motherhood penalty“—fewer and lower raises and promotions as bosses assume she’s busy being a mom and not focused on work. Women who leave the workforce to care for children often have a hard time reentering—and lose out on accruing long-term retirement benefits while out of the workforce.

Anecdotally, the fathers Orianna spoke with haven’t had much trouble returning to the workforce. Some easily went back to their old jobs, got new ones, or picked up gig economy jobs on the side. While society has stigmatized stay-at-home fathers in the past, the transition in and out of primary caregiving seems to be a smoother one for many dads today.

Read Orianna’s full story here.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

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PARTING WORDS

"If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman."

—2024 Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley quoting Margaret Thatcher during this week's Republican debate