A two-hour training session can prompt men to significantly increase their involvement in childcare and housework, according to a study published by the Center for Research and Education in Program Evaluation. The research, which involved over 1,200 male employees from four Japanese organizations, found that this intervention led to men spending an additional hour per day on childcare during weekends.
The training sessions included messaging that highlighted how fathers often overestimate their contributions to domestic tasks. Participants were coached on how to play a larger role at home. Researchers observed that the fathers who underwent this training spent more time with their children, particularly on weekends. This increased involvement, especially among those with children aged five and under, also led to a reduction in housework for their partners.
Professor Shintaro Yamaguchi of the University of Tokyo, a lead researcher on the study, noted that the training increased fathers' weekend childcare time. He also pointed out that much of the fathers' increased involvement occurred when both parents were with the children, which directly reduced mothers' housework time by approximately 2.6 hours. This suggests the training initiated a renegotiation of the division of labor within households.
In contrast to the training, an information campaign focused on correcting misconceptions about colleagues' attitudes toward paternity leave proved less effective in changing behavior. The study tracked participants' attitudes, childcare, housework, and working hours before and after the interventions over several months.
The findings indicate that men's increased participation in childcare and housework enabled their partners to dedicate more time to other activities. Specifically, the wives of trained fathers increased their paid working hours by an average of 3.6 hours per week. Previous research has indicated a link between the division of household chores and women's sexual satisfaction, with even distribution correlating with higher reported levels of passion.