Here's A Shock for Women

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Because their overall numbers are still so tiny, the increase in stay-at-home dads hardly means most fathers have suddenly become co-CEOs of the home, sharing equal responsibility for child rearing with their wives. "In most households, working women are still the ones doing the second shift at home," says Frank. But, more and more, researchers note, the roles are starting to change, evident in the increase in male executives working compressed weeks so they can have more time with children, in shift workers who are taking responsibility for daytime child care, and in dads working from home so they can be closer to their kids. Frank estimates that the total number of dads with primary responsibility for children in dual-earner households has jumped 25% since the early 1990s to 2.5 million.