A Caerphilly dad-of-three is backing a Father’s Day call for more shared parenting in Welsh households.
The women’s economic development body Chwarae Teg is urging dads to take the opportunity of this year’s Father’s Day to chat to their sons about the importance of both men and women taking full responsibility for parenting and looking after the household.
The call comes following the recent publication of survey figures by Chwarae Teg showing that only one-in-ten women in Wales now chooses to stay at home in order to look after the house and children, rather than have paid employment. That’s half of the figure in the equivalent survey 20 years ago.
The body is encouraging fathers to explain to their sons that both parents have equal responsibilities when it comes to looking after the family and the home.
Lee Burksfield, 46, from Caerphilly, worked in the advertising industry for 17 years but, when his wife Gaynor gave birth to twins, they decided that home life would have to change.
The high cost of childcare put a financial strain on the family so Lee took a year out to care for twins Dylan and Sam, now six, and 12-year-old son Tomos. When Lee tried to return to work he was met with a competitive jobs market so he set about qualifying for a more flexible career of taxi driving with Wales’ largest company Dragon Taxis in Cardiff.
Lee said: “My wife is a regional director for a national advertising agency so she works from 7.30am until 6.30pm and often has to spend time in Bristol, Birmingham and London.
“Taxi driving gives me the flexibility to look after the children – getting them ready in the morning, doing the school run and feeding them in the evening. In addition to the pleasure of caring for them, I get to play with them, which I really love.
“I come from a very traditional family where my mother would stay at home to manage the household and childcare and my father would be the breadwinner. Gaynor and I have always known that we wouldn’t run our home like this and would both want to pursue careers. I love playing a part in my children’s upbringing and I think it’s great that they will get to grow up understanding the benefits of shared parenting.”
Joy Kent, chief executive of Chwarae Teg, said: “Passing on good habits and attitudes to children is an all year round activity, but Father’s Day is a particular opportunity for dads to make this point to their sons. Rather than pushing a ‘pamper your dad today’ message, we feel it’s more valuable to highlight the need for both mums and dads to share family and household responsibilities equally.
“Our ‘A Woman’s Place’ survey illustrates that, like Lee, men today are much more involved in the up-bringing of their children.
“In a typical family both partners need to work due to the high cost of living and housing.
“Setting an example for future generations is also a positive reflection of the change in times and hopefully sets the course for balanced parental tasks within future families.
“We need to ensure that working practices in companies can be supportive of this modern day reality, to allow families to continue to function in a collaborative fashion.”