On the domestic front, while women have taken on an increasing role in providing income to their families, men have not taken up their share of responsibility in family life. Responsibility for children, in particular, is still seen as belonging to the mother. Fathers spend about a third as much time as mothers in providing direct child care. Fathers' contributions to the direct care of their children, particularly when children are very young, is critical. Economic, cultural and other factors influence the amount of time fathers spend with their children.
Cultural factors are perhaps paramount.
In many societies, fathers' limited participation in child care is linked very strongly to beliefs that close father-child relations are not appropriate. In some parts of West Africa, contact between men and very young children is seen as taboo. Available evidence suggests that the more men and women cooperate economically, the more equally they tend to divide child care responsibilities. Whether or not the father lives with his children, the quality of his relationship with their mother is also influential. Contact between fathers and their children tends to diminish, or even disappear, soon after a break-up when mothers have custody.