As men's roles change, the time is right for fixing the imbalance between men and women. As with many important life lessons, real gender equality has to start in the home. That's where couples have to work out, on a daily basis, how to balance the demands of childcare, work and housework. While legislation can impose parity of pay and treatment at work, it is in the privacy of the home that many of the most deeply ingrained beliefs about the equality of the sexes are played out everyday - and that means mindsets need to change too.
In the home, women do more than their share of housework and childcare, even when both partners work full-time, says Su-Mei Thompson, CEO of The Women's Foundation, speaking at a panel discussion organised by the organisation to discuss the changing role of men.
'At The Women's Foundation, we believe that we will not have greater equality in the workplace until we have greater equality at home,' she said,
That's not as easy as it sounds, but it can be achieved through a combination of changes in legislation, mindsets and work practices, panellists agreed.
Achieving real and lasting equality in the home requires more than a couple agreeing to share the burden of work equally. But it's important to remember that many beliefs about the division of housework and childcare are entrenched in most societies.
'I think there's a stigma attached, still in Hong Kong, [to] men being primary carers,' said panel member Alex Lo, deputy news editor at the South China Morning Post.
That stigma is evident in many societies around the world, but is likely to be particularly deeply rooted in Asia.
