A poll of 2,000 pregnant women and their partners, published by Pregnancy and Birth, reveals that most men want to spend more time with their children and are not nearly as enamoured of the world of work as you'd imagine.

Only 34% of men wanted to continue in full-time work once they had had children, with 33% preferring to go part-time and another third prepared to become stay-at-home fathers.

The only thing keeping them from staying at home is money - the biggest concern for most prospective fathers, who said financial fears caused them more anxiety than worries about the loss of their freedoms.

Elena Dalrymple, the editor of the magazine, said: "Men want to be fathers just as much as women want to be mothers. Modern fathers pour their life and soul into fatherhood and should have the same or similar rights to mothers."

Interestingly, most men cited their own father as their role model, although David Beckham and Jamie Oliver were deemed to be the next best choices.

Michael Jackson's baby dangling won him the dubious honour of being the worst role model, followed by the Oasis singer Liam Gallagher and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.