EP23: A Real History of Lead Dads

Interview with Stephanie Coontz / Expert on Contemporary Families and Marriage

HOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVAN

How have husbands and wives balanced working, parenting and being together throughout history? Stephanie Coontz, the director of research and public education at the Council on Contemporary Families, says it’s generally not how most of think about it today. If anything, the past 50 or 60 years are an historical aberration – since it used to be more egalitarian. So now, employers assume when women become mothers they will be less committed to the job and therefore they’re more reluctant to promote them, while men who become fathers will be more committed – so those who want to take parental leave get penalized as not being a good worker. Listen to her discuss how working moms and Lead Dads can reset those expectations and allow a better working environment to come out of the pandemic.

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