Once upon a time there was an animal notable for the way males and females of the species divided childcare duties. The mother tended to stay close to the nest, nurturing the young and keeping the home clean and tidy. The father provided for the family, heading out to hunt and gather. He kept his mate and their fledglings fed and watered and saw his role as protector. But while he might occasionally give his offspring a peck to keep them in line, he was very much a secondary figure when it came to grooming the young for the day when they flew the nest.

But, over time, researchers began to notice changes in the family dynamic. Increasingly, the females took on foraging duties while the males spent more time caring for the young. Some experts even began to predict that a time would come when family duties would be shared equally between the males and females of the species.

The species is Homo sapiens and the era of equality could be just a generation away. That, at least, is the belief of the maker of The Evolution of Dad, a feature film project that has interviewed scores of fathers about their experiences and attitudes. Dana Glazer, who is making the film, believes that the roles of men and women at home and at work are changing so fast that soon both sexes will share child-rearing duties equally. “I think 30 years from now they are going to be looking at us as if we were cavemen.”

Read on in the Times Online