Traditional gender roles are blurring and this progression has been building for a while. Quietly, while media and consumers have been delving into the topics of motherhood, women shattering (or significantly cracking) the glass ceiling and what it means for them to “have it all,” men have become more active fathers, picked up a larger share of household chores and, in some cases, taken on the role of primary caregiver. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the last 11 years the amount of stay-at-home dads has doubled.
Two recent trends have accelerated this process: Our recessionary climate, where the person who brings home the bacon is determined by who isn’t holding a pink slip, and the social media explosion, where the sharing of parental advice drives an enormous amount of online conversations.
Dads are actively getting in there with their two cents but please don’t mistake this for men turning into women. While traditional gender roles are blurring, the genders themselves remain distinct. Read a blog by a new father and the topic might be about how to get through the sexual dry spell during those first few months of your baby’s life, while a new mother’s blog would be more likely to focus on how to function on less sleep.
But this isn’t about the boys vs. the girls. Far from it. Often parents are engaging in conversation together. Dad Blogs welcomes women and bills itself as “the coolest hangout on the Net for dads and moms.” On Twitter, moms and dads regularly mix it up as well. Follow @nycitymama and you’ll see she regularly exchanges tweets with @mochadad and @dearmisterman. Smart marketers are even tapping into blogging couples, such as EA Sports Active who is currently hosting a giveaway with both Daddy Digest and Simply Being Mommy.
Offline we’ve seen the same trends are emerging. Baby showers in some regions of the country becoming couples events. It would be a mistake for marketers to ignore dads as a viable and influential group, or assume that moms don’t influence dads or vice versa. Some campaigns really should be targeted to one gender or the other. However, certain brands would benefit from taking off the pink (or blue) colored glasses and seeing their customers clearly through the parent lens.
Resources:
Tessa Wegert’s column on targeting dad bloggers on ClickZ gives a great overview of both individuals and networks
Lisa Belkin of The New York Times calls it the Daddy Identity Crisis but we’re not so certain these dads don’t know exactly who they are.
A few of the many dads who tweet
@peasandbananas, @outnumberedisme, @daddydigest, @backpackingdad
Tags: daddy bloggers, fatherhood, gender roles, marketing, mommy bloggers, motherhood, parenthood
