Woke dads have finally arrived in Australia. It's about bloody time.

For years now, fathers elsewhere in the world have been going woke.

For those unfamiliar with progressive vernacular, that means live to social justice issues and, in the context of fatherhood, attuned to the demands of a new, more engaged version of fatherhood and equal parenting.

Now, blessedly, the trend has finally arrived on Australian shores. And all I can say is, it's about bloody time.

While women have made inroads in almost every area of life, albeit not fast enough, on the home front, barely anything has changed. Women still do the lion's share of the unpaid house and care work, even if they are the primary breadwinners. Why? Partly because men haven't joined the fight. Some have even argued that men have mounted a largely effective resistance. But that could be changing.

I first suspected something was afoot around two months ago. When I was walking my dog in the local park, I spotted two men picnicking with their babies … in the middle of the workday! Bathed in sunlight, with (okay maybe I imagined this bit) butterflies fluttering and birdsong, there they were, and for a moment I thought I had been transported to Sweden, where such scenes of active, involved fatherhood are common.

"Must be from out of town," I thought to myself. But when my dog ran over to plant a face lick on one of the babes, we got to chatting and all was revealed. They were just two local dads — friends — on parental leave.

"How very unusual," I mused.

In the nearly seven years I have lived in Australia, I have found such visible displays of active, involved fathering during the hours of the day when Australia's entrenched army of male breadwinners are usually presumed to be at work few and far between.

And the statistics bear this out: just one in 20 Australian fathers take primary parental leave, which is low by global standards. Stay-at-home fathers are also a rarity.

Now, Australia's woke dads have arrived on the scene to help turn things around.

Daddy Pig out, Bandit in

Last month, Marie Claire and Men's Health magazines launched a campaign for parental leave equality, complete with high-profile celebrity ambassadors including Tom Williams, Sam Wood and Steve "The Commando" Willis. (Trust Australia to come up with an uber sporty version of the woke dad.)

The campaign highlights how Australia's parental leave system — which usually classifies women as the "primary" carer and dads as the "secondary" carer with only two weeks of funded leave specifically targeted at dads, and little pay attached to either form of leave to make them accessible — makes it difficult for men to take as much leave as they would like to.

It also highlights the significant side-eye many dads fear their desire for parental leave might elicit from their employers.

Also last month, The Father Hood launched, "a media brand to help fathers navigate through the hot mess of having kids to a place where they're living their very best lives as men".

In their mission statement, founders Jeremy Macvean, Andrew McUtchen, and Luke Benedictus say: "We are here to showcase men as fathers who are doing it their way and doing it well."

Australia is, admittedly, a bit late to the woke dad party. ( Flickr: Ivan Rigamonti )

The Father Hood aims to put the stereotype of dad as the couch-potato, the sap, the buffoon on notice. "We're coming for you, Daddy Pig. Your time is up," is their tagline.

Peruse the website's initial offering and you'll find Hugh Jackman talking about how parenting is different now, Todd Sampson on teaching the "skill" of bravery to his daughters and AFL player Scott Pendlebury revealing his struggle with worry as a father.

A bit of a pop culture canary-in-the-woke-dad coal mine — it's almost as if the ABC got an advance memo re: Daddy Pig — Bandit, the beloved father on the ABC Kids hit children's show, Bluey, is very on brand — investing endless time and energy into fostering his children's imagination and helping them grow into well rounded people.

We're playing catch-up

Australia is, admittedly, a bit late to the woke dad party. Fatherly, a US based digital media brand, described as Buzzfeed meets Vice for dads, launched in 2015.

Ludo Gabriele launched the Woke Daddy blog out of the US in 2017 to much acclaim — and some backlash.

"Daddit", a part of Reddit for dads, has been a popular place for men to swap tips for many years.

And Doyin Richards, a self-described dad "influencer", started the Daddydoinwork Instagram account years ago for men to showcase their engaged parenting.

Here's hoping it catches on

I am, personally, delighted to see the arrival of woke dads here in Australia doing their bit to campaign for domestic equality while setting an example for all the would-be modern, engaged dads intent on pulling their weight at home. I hope it catches on.

Over the years, when the annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey was released showing Australian women still do the lion's share of unpaid care and housework, or other data indicating men lives don't change much after the birth of a child, I always tried to counter the inevitable "men are a bit shit" criticism by pointing out how public policy and workplace practices here genuinely make it difficult for men to break free from the shackles of the male breadwinner model.

Australian men, for example, are twice as likely to have their requests for flexible work turned down, only two in 100 employers set targets for men's engagement in flexible work, and, as those now campaigning for parental leave equality point out, Australia has some of the most uneven parental leave arrangements in favour of mums in the world.

But my pleas for understanding were often met with more than a few disgruntled, and quite fed-up, female readers saying, "Well if men really wanted change, they would step up and ask for it … they like things just fine the way they are".

And while I could have pointed to countless men and men's groups in other parts of the world where I have lived and campaigned on these issues who did just that, here in Australia, relative crickets. Until now.

Welcome to the party woke dads. Glad to know ya. Hope to see more of you about the place.

Kristine Ziwica is a Melbourne-based writer. Twitter: @KZiwica