Traditionally, caring for children has been principally women's work. The claim is frequently heard that men, especially younger men living in the major cities, are increasingly sharing this load equally with their wives. It is argued that for this claim to be proven, it is necessary to show that men not only assist but share responsibility for most of the more demanding tasks. When the findings from a study of a Victorian community (married couples) made in the 1980s were compared with those from a Melbourne study made in 1998, it showed that the Melbourne men were doing more of the particularly demanding tasks than men in the earlier study. However, in both contexts women had major responsibility, and men typically acted as wives' assistants. These patterns held even when their wives were engaged in full-time paid work. It is also demonstrated that in both the urban and rural contexts, men and women believed that women, rather than men, should give children primacy. These beliefs were shown to be common among Australians generally. It is argued that traditional values such as these are likely to impede the responsibility for child care being shared equally in the future. Study limitations mean that findings may lack generalisability. However, the major thrust of these findings has been shown to be corroborated by national surveys using representative samples.