Involved Fathers and Egalitarian Husbands: by Choice or by Constraint? A Study on Italian Couples with Small Children

There is a large debate on new models of fatherhood. By drawing from the 2003 Italian survey "Family and Social Subjects", we explore how many and who are these ???new??? fathers, whether they are ???undoing gender??? through an equal share of housework, and whether this occurs more out of choice or constraints. Results show that Italian fathers daily involved in childcare are a minority and male partners sharing equally housework are even less. Besides, they present specific profiles: they belong to well educated, dual - earner and homogamous couples (in terms of working time, occupational position and sector), living in North or Center Italy. Gender role attitudes matter less, affecting only the probability of being involved fathers and only in couples where both partners are traditional. In the other types of couples, where a traditional division is not "taken for granted", gender practices appear to respond more to resources and constraints