Gender Divisions and Power Relationships in the Australian Family

Abstract

‘Diary of a Mad Househusband’ was the title of an article which was reprinted in the Sydney Morning Herald (31 March 1983), having appeared earlier in The Guardian. It began with the observation that ‘more men are taking over house and children while their wives go out to work’, and proceeded to list the tribulations of a househusband involved in what would have once been called a ‘role reversal’ situation. Today, sociologists tend to avoid this term because it implies that the traditional male and female roles are somehow fixed and given, whereas there is no reason to assume that childcare is a female occupation, which males only undertake through taking on a female role.