Like Father Like Daughter

By Caroline Howard

As fathers are spending more time with their family, more daughters are following dad's career path.

President Barack Obama had the right idea when he dedicated an entire afternoon the Friday before Father's Day to promote and celebrate the importance of strong fatherhood.

"Fathers have an obligation to help rear the children they bring into the world," he said. "Children deserve this care, and families need each father's active participation."

Children are shaped by their fathers, of course, but when it comes to how women choose their career paths, Dad's influence proves surprisingly significant.

One study found that only about 6% of women born before World War I followed in their father's footsteps, whereas 20% of Gen X women, those born in the 1970s, did the same.

Why the increase? We can explain it with something we've known all along: That same active participation that the president mentioned in his speech - including sharing job interests and skills - can influence a daughter's career choice and increase the likelihood that she will enter the same line of work.

Michael Lewis, author of Home Game and subject of a photo essay by his wife, Tabitha Soren, the former MTV journalist, says he does about "31.5% of all parenting." That's in line with a 2004 Families and Work Institute study, which revealed that Gen-X fathers spend significantly more time with their children than Boomer dads with children of the same age, an average of 3.4 hours per workday vs. an average of 2.2 hours for the Boomers.

It's too soon to calculate the numbers for Gen-Y, but most experts agree these dads will devote even more time to their children.

These trends by themselves don't tell us which force (paternal, societal or otherwise) is pushing and pulling daughters down one career path or another. But they do tell us today's dads are spending more time with their children - and their daughters are paying attention.

In Pictures: Like Father, Like Daughter.