Daughters of egalitarian dads maybe more ambitious

"Dads who are more balanced have girls who are just as likely to play with Transformers as Barbie dolls," study researcher Toni Schmader, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, announced January 18 at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, as reported by LiveScience.

Schmader and her team recruited more than 360 elementary school children and at least one parent of each child to respond to questions about gender stereotypes and, for parents, division of household labour.

Among the participants, mothers were found to take on the majority of the household work compared to the men, and a woman's attitude toward gender roles was often reflected in her child.

But the researchers found that a father's attitudes held more influence over his daughter's behaviour. More egalitarian men were found to have daughters who had broader, less gendered interests, reports LiveScience.

Also dads who pitched in around the house had daughters whose behaviour was less stereotypically girly.