Today’s global moms have had more opportunities available to them than any previous generation. How is family life responding to these changes?

Here’s what we know, based on research we conducted prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and validated recently in several countries:

Many women are their family’s primary earner.  Among working women married to men, 1 in 5 earns more than her husband.

When it comes to household responsibilities, dads are not living up to their ideals. Almost all parents – 93% of moms and 90% of dads – believe that fathers should be as hands-on in bringing up their children as mothers. However, the reality doesn’t quite match up. Moms juggle the larger household jobs while dads handle smaller tasks like trash, yardwork, and bills. Parents share a handful of chores: budgeting, entertaining kids, disciplining kids, and transporting them.

Parents are encouraging broader gender roles for their kids. Above all, parents want their sons and daughters to be good people: polite, courteous, kind, and caring. They want to inspire financial and emotional independence in their daughters: independent thinking, being good with money, self-sufficiency, self-protection, strength, and toughness. Parents of sons appear to be highlighting a gentler side, encouraging creativity and emotional expression.