It may sound counterintuitive, but the more girls see their fathers helping out around the house with chores, the higher their aspirations become for their own careers.
That's the findings of a UBC study set to be published in Psychological Science. As lead researcher Alyssa Croft explains in the video above, when fathers take an active role in household work, their daughters are more inclined toward picturing themselves in leadership and management roles as potential jobs, as opposed to stereotypically feminine careers.
Although the study doesn't specify which jobs girls list in either circumstance, there is a correlation between them aspiring towards having a career at all when their dads help at home. As Croft explains, no matter how much parents may talk about gender equality, the best way they can demonstrate it exists is through their own actions. Moms, of course, play a role as well.
"Specifically, girls were more likely to envision themselves as working outside the home when their fathers reported more gender egalitarian beliefs about domestic labor, but also when their mothers reported doing relatively less domestic work and self-stereotyped as more work-oriented," the study says.
On the heels of recent news that women spent 1.5 hours more than men doing household chores in Canada, a shift in the paradigm will undoubtedly be welcome across the board.
And if it ends making your kid — boy or girl — a CEO, then all the better.
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