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Haitians grow impatient with aid trickle
Six months after a violent earthquake left a trail of destruction and misery in their country, Haitians are growing impatient at the slow trickle of aid and the crawling pace of reconstruction.
“There are no prospects, no means to rebuild. The international community promised us money, but will it ever come?” asked a baffled Franck Paul, a former mayor of Port-au-Prince.
In the capital’s streets and under tents that still house hundreds of thousands of Haitians left homeless by the disaster, frustration is building.
“When we were asked to come to this camp, we were promised houses. Where are they?” asked Jean-Auguste Petit-Frere as he pointed to a model of a home set up on the site by a Jamaican firm and set to be valued at $A17,100 a piece.
According to the United Nations office in Haiti, nearly 4000 homes of 18 square metres each have been built in a project that anticipates building some 10,000 houses.
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Nigel Fischer, acknowledged there were “many challenges” in putting Haiti back on its feet and coordinating aid, including making sure the affected population has access to essential care.
He also warned that 130 tent cities have been identified as at risk from the hurricane season that could add more woes to a country that was already the poorest in the Western hemisphere even before the quake.
Construction only just starting
The French Red Cross, which has promised to build 30,000 transitional homes in collaboration with the US Red Cross, has just begun construction of 500 in a village east of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
But the figures pale in comparison to the 1.5 million people left homeless by the January 12 quake that killed 250,000 people.
Among those still living in squalid temporary plastic tents under sweltering temperatures are half a million children at risk of crime, exploitation and abuse.
They often lack decent sanitation and proper protection against an imminent risk of hurricanes.
“Children in Haiti are among those having the hardest time recovering from the earthquake,” Save the Children’s director of emergencies Gareth Owen said in a statement.
“Many are still trying to cope with the grief of losing loved ones, their homes, their toys – everything that gave them their sense of identity.
“It’s hard for an adult to cope, let alone a child.”
Some of the kids were so scarred, they fear stepping into any concrete building. Others left orphaned are hired by families in camps as workers in exchange for food, according to Save the Children.
Few ‘concrete proposals’
Novelist Gary Victor expressed disappointment the Haitian government has made few concrete proposals.
“It seems to me that the international community is taking us for a ride. There have been many promises, but nothing has been done,” he said.
The massive aid effort is moving from emergency assistance into the long-term recovery stage for the UN World Food Program (WFP), which has launched temporary job initiatives employing some 35,000 women and men.
The number of employed workers under the program, which typically pays them with a mixture of food and cash, is expected to reach 140,000 before the end of the year.
“We’re supporting huge numbers of people who would otherwise struggle to put food on their tables,” WFP country director Myrta Kaulard said in a statement.
WFP is also helping provide hot meals to 655,000 school-aged children each day, a figure expected to reach 800,000 by the end of the year.
And in another glimmer of hope, viewers of the hit reality television competition American Idol donated over $A285,200 to provide solar street lights for the camps and emergency health kits for pregnant women to deliver their babies safely.
But Haitians are angered their leaders seem overwhelmed by the scope of the catastrophe that shattered the tiny Caribbean country.
“The president and the government are absent, while foreigners and non-governmental groups have taken up the reins,” said a public transit driver caught in one of the many traffic jams now synonymous with Port-au-Prince, where huge piles of debris still litter the roadside.
Three months after an international conference in New York where world powers promised more than $A11.41 billion in aid over five years, the funds are only trickling in.
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New hominid species found in South Africa
Baptised Australopithecus sediba, the partially fossilized specimens — an adult female and a juvenile male — were found in 2008 in a cavern 40 kilometres from Johannesburg.
“They, ladies and gentlemen, are potentially a Rosetta stone into the past,” Lee Berger, a paleo-anthropologist at the University of Witwatersrand, told a press conference at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site.
“They represent a completely new and unexpected species of human ancestor to science. Something we did not think was there.”
The 1.9-million-year-old hominids are in “extraordinary condition”, would have known each other, and were possibly related. The adult female was aged in her late 20s or early 30s and the boy between 11 and 13, he said.
“What we have found are arguably the most complete early hominid skeletons ever discovered. Each individual is far more complete than the famous Lucy fossil from Ethiopia.”
The hominids walked upright and share a number of traits with the first known species of homo sapiens, having long arms like apes but short and powerful hands, according to a paper to be published in the journal Science.
They have evolved pelvises, small teeth and long legs that would enable them to run like a human. It is also probable that they could climb trees.
“Australopithecus sediba appears to present a mosaic of features demonstrating an animal comfortable in both worlds,” said Berger, the principal author of the paper, in an earlier telephone press conference.
Both specimens were about 1.27 metres in height. The female weighed about 33 kilos (72.6 pounds) and the young male 27 kilos.
The species had small brains, measuring about a third of the volume of those of modern humans.
But Berger noted that the shape of their brains appears to have evolved from other species of australopithecus.
“Australopithecus sediba appears to present a mosaic of features demonstrating an animal comfortable in both worlds,” said Berger, the principal author of the paper.
The new species had many physical characteristics similar to those of early hominids that would help to explain what it means to be human, he said.
The skeletal structure of the two fossils is similar to those of the first Homo species, but the new examples appear to have employed it in the same way as “Lucy,” perhaps the world’s most famous fossil.
Found in 1974, Lucy dated back 3.2 million years and was considered the common ancestor of humanity until the discovery of the 4.4-million-year-old “Ardi”, which points to a common ancestor with the chimpanzee.
Berger said it was not possible to establish the “precise” position of the new species in relation to early man.
“We can conclude that this new species shares more derived features with early Homo than any other known australopith species, and thus represents a candidate ancestor for the genus,” he said.
The site of the discovery is rich in fossils and at least two other specimens of sediba have been excavated and are being analysed, Berger said.
The searchers have also identified the fossils of at least 25 other animal species, including a hyena, a wild dog, antelopes and a horse.
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China ‘hijacked’ climate summit: British minister
China vetoed attempts to give legal force to the accord reached at the United Nations climate summit in the Danish capital, Miliband wrote in The Guardian newspaper.
It also blocked an agreement on reductions in global emissions, he said.
“This was a chaotic process dogged by procedural games,” Miliband wrote.
“The procedural wrangling was, in fact, a cover for points of serious, substantive disagreement.
“The vast majority of countries, developed and developing, believe that we will only construct a lasting accord that protects the planet if all countries’ commitments or actions are legally binding.
“But some leading developing countries currently refuse to countenance this. That is why we did not secure an agreement that the political accord struck in Copenhagen should lead to a legally binding outcome.
“We did not get an agreement on 50 percent reductions in global emissions by 2050 or on 80 percent reductions by developed countries.
“Both were vetoed by China, despite the support of a coalition of developed and the vast majority of developing countries.”
He added: “The last two weeks at times have presented a farcical picture to the public. We cannot again allow negotiations on real points of substance to be hijacked in this way.”
The summit set a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), but did not spell out the important global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 that are the key to holding down temperatures.
It also promised 100 billion dollars for poor nations that risk bearing the brunt of the global warming fallout, but has not given a fixed payout plan.
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Prince George pictured with close family
Prince George is pictured in the arms of the Duchess of Cambridge and surrounded by his immediate family in an official christening photograph that’s been released.
The royal baby was baptised on Wednesday and his public appearance gave the world only its second glimpse of the future king.
George appeared happy and content throughout the day and his father William even joked just before the ceremony began that his son was the “quietest” he had been.
Later that evening the Queen described the baptism, carried out by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, as “very nice” when she appeared at a reception.
And Kate on Saturday night said George was “such a good boy” throughout the ceremony.
The duke and duchess chose celebrity portrait photographer Jason Bell to take the official pictures to mark the christening at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace.
In the image that has been released Kate is shown seated on a sofa cradling her three-month-old son, with the Queen sitting on her right and William on her left, both pictured with their hands in their lap.
Baby George is wearing a replica of the intricate lace and satin christening gown made for Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Victoria, the Princess Royal, in 1841.
Standing behind the sofa are the infant’s immediate family – the royals and the Middletons.
George’s seven godparents are not in the official pictures.
The picture was taken immediately after the christening service in the morning room of Clarence House the official London home of Charles and Camilla.
It is an historic image as it shows the Queen with three future monarchs – Charles, William and George.
The photograph has similarities with a picture taken in July 1894 during the christening of the future Edward VIII, showing the royal baby with his father, later George V, grandfather, the future Edward VII, and great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
Bell is renowned for his images of Hollywood stars and rock and pop legends like Sir Paul McCartney, actress Scarlett Johansson and former England footballer David Beckham.
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Finance News Update, what you need to know
WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:
The Australian dollar is lower as investors await the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting later in the week.
At 0630 AEDT on Monday, the local unit was trading at 95.86 US cents, down from 96.05 cents on Friday.
And the Australian share market looks set to open higher following gains on Wall street driven by better-than-expected earnings from Amazon and Microsoft and solid results from Procter & Gamble and UPS.
At 0650 AEDT on Monday, the December share price index futures contract was up 33 points at 5,418.
ELSEWHERE:
LONDON – The British government is likely to stop short of ordering the break-up of the state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) before returning it to the private sector, media reports say.
NEW YORK – The New York Stock Exchange says its test run of Twitter’s initial public offering has been a success, as the exchange takes pains to avoid the technical problems that marred Facebook’s debut.
NEW YORK – JPMorgan Chase will pay $US5.1 billion ($A5.3 billion) to settle charges it overstated the quality of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, US officials say.
BERLIN – Airbus has urged the German government to pay out a promised final loan instalment of 600 million euros ($A866.86 million) for the construction of the A350, after the aircraft manufacturer said it has created German jobs.
DUBAI – The Gulf emirate of Dubai has opened passenger operations at its second airport, Al-Maktoum International, touted to be the world’s largest once it is completed.
SYDNEY – Future Fund executive chairman David Gonski is being head-hunted by the ANZ Banking Group to be its next chairman.
CANBERRA – Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has declined to give a specific time frame on when the budget will get back to surplus.
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Serena completes dominant season with WTA Championship triumph
The 32-year-old American finished off a dominant year, in which she also won the French and U.
S. Opens, by scooping up her 11th title of 2013.
China’s Li, who will reach a career-high third in the WTA rankings on Monday, broke Williams’s serve twice in the first set.
However, the world number one shifted gears in the second set to roar through 6-3, to the delight of more than 16,000 fans who filled Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem dome.
Williams showed little sign of the fatigue she complained about a day earlier, flattening Li in the third set with her brutal power and on court coverage.
The 17-times grand slam winner, who has played over 80 matches this season, said there was still room for improvement.
“I live to win slams. I really don’t know if this was my best season ever, but definitely top 3. I still have things to add to my game,” she said without elaborating.
The opening game of the second set, which featured nine deuces, was the turning point.
“Looking back the first game of the second set was definitely a very important game for me to win. Li had been on a real roll. I guess I was determined to win that game at any cost,” she said.
Quizzed about the gap between her and the other players, Williams said: “I’m just playing, and I’m trying to do the best that I can. I don’t know if there is a gap.”
Mental strength is the key to Williams’s dominance, according to Li’s coach Carlos Rodriguez.
“As we saw today, the tennis gap between Serena and the rest of the players is not much. But mentally, she’s over the top, and she’s by far the greatest player at the moment,” said Rodriguez, the man who shaped former world number one Justine Henin’s career.
Li admitted nerves played a part in her defeat.
“I was too excited at the start of the game, and by the half of the second set, I had no more energy left,” she said.
But the 31-year-old Chinese, who served 10 double faults, was not too concerned.
“I have showed much improvement this year, and this serve-volley thing is new to me, and it’s not like playing from the baseline,” she explained.
“I was feeling much better than the US Open. At least this time I tried to do my best,” said Li, who won only three games when she lost to Williams at Flushing Meadows in September.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Julien Pretot)
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Federer suffers another Basel loss to Del Potro
The Swiss played some of his best tennis this year but it was not enough to avoid a 7-6 (3) 2-6 6-4 defeat against the powerful Argentine and his 220-kph serve.
After Del Potro took the first set, the momentum seemed to swing Federer’s way when he raced through the second after breaking serve in the second game.
But the turning point came in the first game of the third set when Federer, who has managed only one win against a top-10 opponent and one tournament win all year, was broken after leading 40-15.
Del Potro hit a stunning return on his way to break point and, although the Swiss saved one point with an amazing backhand overhead smash, Del Potro took the game when Federer overhit a forehand.
Del Potro went on to take the set and win his fourth ATP title of the season after Tokyo, Washington and Rotterdam.
Federer would have qualified for the season-ending World Tour Finals if he had won, although he should still book his place there at next week’s Paris Masters.
A win over Kevin Anderson or Mikhail Youzhny in his second round match on Wednesday will be enough to ensure he reaches the season finale for a record-equalling 12th consecutive year, tying with Ivan Lendl for most successive appearances.
Federer, whose season has been peppered with embarrassing defeats to lower-ranked opponents, was happy with Sunday’s performance, where he interspersed some stunning winners with unforced errors including five double faults.
Yet he could not take comfort from the result.
“I am a winner, I don’t take much confidence from losing matches,” he told reporters. “I am happy about the level of my play, it’s getting better but it’s not in losing where I get much confidence.”
Del Potro admitted he lost his way in the second set before recovering.
“I made a lot of mistakes and you can’t afford to relax in a final,” he said.
“My big challenge is to get closer to the top four players and the only way to do that is when you have a chance to play against them.”
Federer, who won his last grand slam title at Wimbledon in 2012 before claiming a silver medal at the London Olympics, has failed to reach the final of a major tournament this season for the first time since 2002.
His only tournament success was at the low-key Halle event and he was beaten in the final at Rome.
He lost in the Australian Open semi-finals to Andy Murray, fell at the last-eight stage to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the French Open, suffered a shock second-round defeat at Wimbledon to Sergiy Stakhovsky before losing to Tommy Robredo in the U.S. Open fourth round.
His win over Tsonga in the Australian Open quarter-finals was his only victory against a top-ten ranked opponent this year.
(Editing by Toby Davis)
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Hamburg win as Van Marwijk appointment pays off
In the other Sunday game Borussia Moenchengladbach bounced back from last week’s defeat to Hertha Berlin and crushed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 to move fourth with their fifth win in five home games this season.
Visitors Hamburg, who have now drawn two and won two matches to move up to 12th under the former Netherlands coach, got a lot of help from Freiburg keeper Oliver Baumann, who fumbled for all three Hamburg goals.
Baumann twice misjudged his rush out of goal to allow Maximilian Beister and Pierre Michel Lasogga, who also hit the post, to score either side of the break.
Dutch playmaker Rafael van der Vaart added another with his sixth goal of the campaign, after Baumann failed to clear a seemingly easy shot, to lift Hamburg further away from the relegation zone on 12 points.
Europa League competitors Freiburg, who are still looking for their first win of the season, are in 17th place.
Juan Arango put Gladbach ahead with a free kick in the 11th minute, but Frankfurt hit back four minutes later through Stefan Aigner on a rain-soaked pitch.
Their hopes of a first win in five league games were short-lived, however, when Oscar Wendt put the hosts back in front on 18 minutes.
With Gladbach’s passing game in full flow, they struck twice in six minutes in the second half through Patrick Herrmann and Raffael to kill off the game.
Gladbach moved into fourth place on 16 points, one ahead of Hertha Berlin.
Bayern Munich edged past Hertha 3-2 on Saturday to stretch their unbeaten league run to 35 games and stay a point clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, 3-1 winners in their Ruhr valley derby against Schalke 04.
Third-placed Bayer Leverkusen are level with Dortmund on 25 points following a narrow 2-1 victory against Augsburg.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Toby Davis)
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Garcia a true leader of the new Roma
Garcia’s side were missing talisman Francesco Totti and in-form Gervinho, and were forced to play the final half hour with 10 men after Maicon’s sending off.
Despite his dismissal Roma managed to improve their game and thoroughly deserved their victory courtesy of American Michael Bradley’s 82nd minute winner.
“All of our players are important. Today we were without the captain and Gervinho, and I always say that someone who is on the bench today can be a starter tomorrow,” Garcia said after the match.
“Whoever puts the work in during the week will see things go their way.”
Garcia is cutting an increasingly confident figure on the Roma bench and is looking more comfortable in front of the cameras as each week goes by.
Having learned Italian quickly he is fielding questions in a manner that inspires faith.
There is little doubt now, too, that his team are genuine scudetto contenders, having equalled Juventus’s record of nine consecutive wins at the start of the 2005-06 season.
“The strength of my team is that it believes in itself, that it moves forward, and that’s even more important in a match like today’s,” added the Frenchman.
Even more impressive is the way he has organised his team, who have now scored 23 goals conceded only one in the league this season.
They needed that defensive solidity on Sunday against an Udinese side who are strong at home and, although Luis Muriel hit the post after three minutes, they mostly restricted the hosts to half chances.
At this point last season Roma were already in the middle of a crisis after throwing a two-goal lead away to lose 3-2 at home to Udinese, their third defeat of the season and the second time that they had given up such a lead. Rumours of dressing room unrest were rife.
This season everyone is working together, attacking and defending as a unit, the key to their remarkable start to the season.
“We won at a very difficult ground. They’ve not lost here for a year and we were down to 10 men,” said Garcia.
“This is really great thing for us and I think that it will be very important in the future.”
(Editing by Josh Reich)
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Villas-Boas hits out at negativity from Spurs fans
Spurs secured victory thanks to an 80th-minute goal by Spaniard Roberto Soldado, the third time this season the 30 million euro ($41.
38 million) buy from Valencia has earned his side all three points from the penalty spot.
Villas-Boas’s team lost 3-0 to West Ham United in their previous home Premier League match and the Portuguese said the fans were subdued against Hull.
“We looked like the away team, we played in a difficult atmosphere with almost no support,” he told the BBC. “We have a wonderful set of fans but they can do better.
“Away from home we play with no fear and we need that atmosphere at White Hart Lane. We don’t need the negativity that was at White Hart Lane today.”
Spurs, who moved up to fourth with their sixth league victory of the season, struggled against Hull and the visitors could have snatched a late point when former Tottenham midfielder Tom Huddlestone went close with a free kick.
The hosts were fortunate to be given their match-winning penalty when Jan Vertonghen’s cross hit Ahmed Elmohamady’s hand from close range.
“It was difficult to break them down. They came here with a good strategy which is nothing different to what other teams do when they come here,” said Villas-Boas.
“The difference today is we were patient. I compliment the boys for what they did, it was great work-rate.
“We didn’t have the support we should have done. There was much anxiety from the stands, the players had to do it alone,” added the Spurs manager.
“The referee could have not given the penalty, sometimes they are not given. Brucey (Hull manager Steve Bruce) will be devastated by that decision.”
Spurs and England winger Andros Townsend suffered a nasty fall over the advertising hoardings which led to him needing lengthy treatment before returning to the pitch with bandages on his wrist.
(Reporting by Josh Reich; editing by Tony Jimenez)
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Del Potro beats Federer in Swiss final
Top seed Juan Martin del Potro won the Swiss Indoors for the second straight year as the Argentine beat five-time champion Roger Federer 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-4 on Sunday.
The re-run of last year’s title match, which ended with a similar result, took two hours and 20 minutes with Federer dropping serve with two double-faults to start the third set.
The Swiss third seed had the chance to clinch his spot in the elite eight-man World Tour Finals in London but will have to wait until next week as the ATP regular season closes at the Paris Masters.
The modest Argentine, victorious over Federer in their past three matches, was apologetic in victory after beating the 17-time grand slam champion.
“I’m sorry again to beat you here. It’s always a pleasure to play Roger. He’s the hero here and, for me, my biggest inspiration.
“You make history at every tournament you play. I’m proud to be playing at the same time as you.”
Federer fired 14 aces to no avail as he failed to win what would have been just a second title in a disappointing season.
The 32-year-old had won five titles at the Basel stadium where he started as a ballboy nearly two decades ago.
Federer was on the back foot as del Potro came up the early leader in the 54-minute opening set after breaking the Swiss but then losing his own serve a game later for a 5-4 lead.
As the opener went into a tiebreaker, del Potro claimed a 4-1 lead before Federer clawed back, pulling to 3-5 but netting a forehand for three del Potro set points. Only one was required.
Federer rallied in the second set to level with two breaks of the Argentine.
But the Swiss star’s misfire in the opening game of the final set proved to be too much to overcome.
“Congratulations to Juan, who has been having a great few years,” Federer said. “I had to fight hard all the way through.
“I feel I was lifting my level but so was he. At the end, I felt I was playing not badly at all.”
Del Potro, already qualified for London, added Basel to his trophies this season in Rotterdam, Washington and Tokyo.
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Roadside bomb kills 18 Afghans
A roadside bomb has killed 18 civilians, mostly women and children, after it struck a small bus coming from a wedding in a lawless district of eastern Afghanistan’s Ghazni province.
Deputy provincial police chief Colonel Asadullah Ensafi said the blast occurred on Sunday in the Andar district as the bus travelled from one village to another just before dusk.
He said the dead include 14 women, three men and a child. Ensafi said the blast wounded five women and two were in critical condition.
Ensafi said he had no other details, as the remote area was not easily accessible to security forces.
Andar is one of the few districts in Ghazni where the Taliban retain some measure of control and often attack security forces, mostly by laying bombs along roads.
Roadside bombs are the Taliban’s weapon of choice and are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties.
In a statement on Sunday night, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force condemned the attack, saying it would “fight against extremists whose senseless acts endanger innocent women and children.”
The UN said in the first six months of this year, 1,319 civilians were killed and 2,533 were wounded in the ongoing 12-year Afghan conflict, the majority of them by roadside bombs.
Earlier on Sunday, a bomb apparently targeting a group of soldiers killed a civilian in a market in the capital, Kabul.
Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said the bomb went off as military personnel waited for a vehicle to take them to work. He said five soldiers were wounded.
A man who identified himself as Ziaudin said his 10-year-old daughter was killed. A witness, Hashmatullah, said four civilians were wounded in addition to the soldiers. He said the bomb was placed under vegetables in a shop.
There has been a spike in violence around Afghanistan in recent months as the insurgents try to take advantage of a security handover from foreign forces to the Afghans. The handover is the latest step in the gradual withdrawal of troops from the US-led international military coalition, which will be completed at the end of 2014.
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Comment: In pursuit of gender equality and work-life balance
By Leah Ruppanner, University of Melbourne
I recently asked my University of Melbourne undergraduates to answer the following hypothetical: your child is sick at school.
Who would usually pick him or her up? Their response was as expected – a third said the mother, a third said the father and a third said it depends on who was geographically closest, or who had the most important meeting or the least important job.
The “it depends” is exactly the type of forward-thinking gender-equal answer one would expect from this highly educated lot.
But there is a problem: they are dead wrong. The reason is that mothers, upon the birth of a child, typically make career decisions to accommodate their growing family responsibilities. This includes reducing work to part-time or taking on more flexible positions to care for children.
So, the “it depends” group is largely composed of mothers who restructured their careers for greater work-family balance.
This notion that individuals need to make better decisions to achieve a zen work-family balance is sacrosanct in our society. Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg wrote about this struggle recently in her book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, which encourages women to dismantle the internal barriers that hold them back from work successes.
Sociologists have spent decades looking at the stress associated with combining work and family roles. Patrick Coe
And many readers will remember British author Nigel Marsh’s popular TEDtalk, in which he implored viewers to make small changes in their lives so they could focus less on work and more on family life.
Yet, many are unable to achieve this work-family nirvana. Instead, their lives are filled with complications, such as answering work emails while their toddler spills a box of cereal on the floor.
So the question remains: is there a better way?
This was exactly the question that University of California sociologist Matt Huffman and I set to answer in a study published earlier this month in the journal Work and Occupations.
Sociologists have spent decades looking at work-family conflict and the stress associated with combining work and family roles. The bulk of the research identifies which individuals report the most work-family conflict. Not surprisingly, they find that women, professionals, people who work longer hours and people with greater workplace flexibility are more likely to say family conflicts with work.
This research, of course, validates many of our experiences. Yes, there is gender inequality. Yes, people in professional positions struggle with balancing work and family roles. Yes, your boss can hear your toddler harassing the kitty while you are on the phone. And, yes, these are real problems that deserve real solutions.
Over 60% of households with school-aged children are dual-earning families, so the need to address these problems in at the institutional level becomes increasingly important.
In gender-unequal societies, mothers are the most likely to report family-to-work conflict. Image from shutterstock.com
To investigate this relationship, we asked the question: do people in countries with greater gender equality report lower levels of work-family conflict?
We took data samples from 31 countries including Australia and paired them with a measure of gender equality by country. This included the percentage of women holding parliamentary seats, the gap in income between women and men, and the percentage of women who work full-time.
We expected that parents in more gender-equal societies would report less conflict between work and family. We were wrong.
In the most gender-unequal societies, we do find that mothers are the most likely to report family-to-work conflict.
But, in the most gender-equal societies, such as Sweden, Norway and Finland, this pattern changes. Fathers in these countries are the most likely to report family interferes with their work life than are mothers or individuals without children.
So what gives? Why are Swedish dads having such a hard time? We suspect that Swedish men may not be able to opt-out of childcare responsibilities while at work like men in lower gender-equality countries because they have an institutional structure that encourages gender equality.
In gender equal societies, fathers report more work-family conflict. Image from shutterstock.com
Let’s think about this another way. Swedish women may hold men accountable for family because they have institutional structures that will support them whether they are married or not. So, women may be more likely to demand that their husbands pick up the children from school and their husbands may actually respond to these demands.
I have found similar patterns for couples’ housework conflict whereby women report more conflict over housework in countries with more gender equality and that support women economically after divorce. So wives’ threats for partners’ family participation have more leverage (women, take note).
Further, Swedish women are more likely to return to work full-time after the birth of a child. So, men are expected to bond with their young children and be active participants in family life; opting-out just isn’t an option. This national discussion of gender transcends work and family issues as everyone in this country is acutely aware of gender equality and actively works to reduce its harmful effects.
This sad story for men may actually be a good story for women and families. Giving women a more equal footing politically and economically spreads family responsibilities among parents. And a consequence of men’s greater family-work conflict may be greater marital satisfaction and happier and healthier families.
Further, women may earn more money and have longer and more successful careers if sick kids are picked up and cared for by their fathers. So, dads, don’t despair. Rather, put on your cloaks and channel your inner superdad.
Leah Ruppanner does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.