Many times when we talk about work-life balance, people seem to assume that this is a new catch-phrase, mainly relevant to working women. Well, not quite. Surrounded as I am by working men, I know that, to take just one small section of the working population, the fathers who populate the House of Representatives find it very difficult to attain this balance.

Being a father is a role which some may find difficult to define, eluding the more automatic assumptions that are made about mothers. Let's face it, this society does not give fathers an easy time, and the going has got tougher - because nowadays, thankfully, we no longer expect a father to be present solely as the breadwinner but we demand that he is present on the home front too.

This is, of course, to the advantage of family life, particularly our children who should have two active role models to interact with and emulate. It is also to the benefit of the fathers, who can begin to enjoy another expression of what being a man implies. It is, finally, to the benefit of mothers who can share the joys and tribulations of raising children.

There is another side to consider - absent fathers. Absent fathers leave a gap in the family life. One can be absent in many ways. Some children (and their mothers) mourn the absence of a father who has passed away; others are caught in a tug-of-war between separated parents; others still are brought up by caring third parties while their parents are not on the scene; and others live in a family that to all intents and purposes is fully functional, but where the father has no active role, out of choice or default.

Whatever the reality, all children of absent fathers suffer from the lack of a clear father figure in their lives. The state at times has to take on the role of both mother and father when, in the best interests of the children involved, it is deemed to be better for the children not to be in their parents' care. Such a decision is indeed a hard one to take.

It is not only the children who miss out, but also the fathers. Clichéd though it may sound, they are missing out on perhaps the one, true form of unconditional love, at least in the first years! And this must be what the new generation of fathers have realised. As Douglas Carlton Abrams reports in his article The Making of Modern Dad "...it has long been assumed that a father's attachment to his child is the result of a more uncertain process, a purely optional emotional bonding that develops over time, often years" (Psychology Today, March/April 2002).

However, it would be fair to say that society is witnessing a development in this regard, since it seems that men themselves are redefining the concepts of fatherhood and masculinity. Most interestingly, a study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings points to the fact that fathers have higher levels of oestrogen (the female sex hormone) than men who are not fathers. The research also seems to show that Nature prepares men to be devoted dads, just like it prepares mothers!

Perhaps it is society that now needs to recognise these facts and place men firmly in the driver's seat, together with mothers, in the raising of our children. It is society that needs to adapt and we, as members of this society, can be actors of this change. This is why we speak of family-friendly measures, of parental leave, of schemes and systems that can be used by both mothers and fathers to the benefit of their family.

I wish all fathers a truly happy Father's Day and hope that they will share many other happy moments with their family.

Mrs Cristina is Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity.