Mothers avoid not only interpersonal conflict but also a more internal one when they resist forcing their partners’ hands. When men decide to become equally sharing fathers, they may give up money or status, but in exchange for something more virtuous, the elevation of family life. When women reject their role as default parent, they’re not taking on that same goodness. They cannot bask in its treacly moral glow. They are faced with relinquishing their virtue in the name of self-interest, or even just the occasional nap.
