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Why men and women should unite against the patriarchy

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Darren Ball is right and describes it well. The real enemy is patriarchy, a system that despises men who are weak or vulnerable, and does nothing to support fathers’ greater involvement in caring, because that means them working less and competing less to get to the top.

I gave up my international career to work from home – I am an embarrassment to patriarchy (and proud of it). I never quite saw it that way, till I read Darren’s piece, so thank you, Darren!

If patriarchy is a common enemy between advocates for both men and women, then it follows that collaboration is a rational way forward.

It so happens that I read Darren’s article and watched the film, Pride, on the same long journey to San Francisco to attend the world’s biggest annual fatherhood event. When I was not laughing myself out of my tiny seat at the back of Air France economy, I was thinking: if London gays and lesbians can find common cause with Welsh miners and their mums, then surely the different opponents of patriarchy can find common cause against a common enemy?

Just do it

The gays and lesbians did not propose conditions to the Welsh miners before they showed solidarity, even though they feared for their own safety. They just did it, with hilarious and amazing consequences. Welsh miners ended up leading London’s Gay Pride March in 1985.

Which brings us to feminism. In all the articles I read on Inside Man (and I read every one), there is a persistent misunderstanding about feminism – namely, that it is uniform. This is not so. When it comes to men, feminism is diverse, and if our aim is to change things, rather than to be righteous, then we have to understand this fact and work with it.

Within feminism there is a long tradition that only the total dismantlement of patriarchy can deliver its aims. Feminists in this tradition reach out to men who are fighting patriarchy too. It’s not because these feminists happen to be nice, but because they are being strategic.

‘An unholy alliance’

When I was CEO of the Fatherhood Institute, I was invited by such feminists, led by one Minister in the then Government, to join the board of the Equal Opportunities Commission. I accepted wholeheartedly – they needed fatherhood advocates and we needed them.

There is another very different belief: that not only is patriarchy a problem, but men also. Glen Poole has observed this many times. I have seen it in family services, in a lack of ability to engage with male vulnerability. A father who is struggling (e.g. with employment, housing or parenting skills) tends not to be seen as someone who needs help, but as someone who has made foolish choices and needs to change.

The underlying belief is that men have power, and so are responsible for their own misfortunes. Many vulnerable men buy into this, and so do not seek help when they need it. The deep irony of this, as Darren points out, is that it is actually a position that sits very comfortably alongside patriarchy – an aversion to male weakness and vulnerability.

I encounter this unholy alliance in my work to promote real sharing of caring responsibilities. When it comes to encouraging the sharing of caring roles between women and men, our system of leave entitlements is a shambles – and the system coming in this April will fail just like all the others did. Our rejection of the principles that have worked for decades in other countries is no co-incidence.

‘Torpedoed by the maternal lobby’

Each time the debate about leave entitlements comes round – once every five years – proposals for real change are tabled. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and his team came up with some amazing ideas last time round. But they were immediately torpedoed by maternal lobbies who argue that if men get hold of leave entitlements on an equal basis, they will abuse women by forcing them back to work and stopping them breastfeeding. (Scandinavian men don’t do this, as it happens, but who knows what British men could get up to!) Only women in UK can be trusted with leave entitlements, for them to share out at their own discretion if they wish.

This, combined with the quiet threat from the business sector, which does not want to see men taking any time off work, is enough to see any proposals that would actually work to enable sharing wiped off the slate before they are even public. Nick Clegg did the best he could, but the new leave arrangements simply won’t allow more sharing of roles.

Note the dynamics here: this bit of the campaign against patriarchy is supported by women and men and opposed by women and men, with feminists and non-feminists on both sides. The true battle is nothing like how it is commonly depicted.

I do not like reading about feminists and anti-feminists arguing with each other. I lose the will to live if I read too much of it. I do understand it though: if you see or experience real pain and suffering, and then people absolutely deny it or mock it, then it is truly enraging. But at that moment we have a choice. We can make demands to be accepted unilaterally by the other side, something that never works, or do what the London gays and lesbians did, unilaterally offer solidarity.

All the time that the shouting continues in social media, there are real advocates for the vulnerable, be they women or men, who work day in day out to make real change happen on the ground.

Really changing things requires partnership and strategy, not righteousness.

Duncan Fisher was one of the founders and CEO of the Fatherhood Institute and is currently developing a project called MumsAndDadsNet

Duncan is also developing a campaign for shareable leave entitlements, creating an alliance between all the interested parties in order to be strong next time the Government changes things. If you are interested, please contact Duncan.

Photo: Batega

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42% of new dads are not eligible for shared parental leave

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Two in five (40 per cent) new fathers won’t qualify for new rights to shared parental leave, according to analysis published by the TUC.

From April mothers will be allowed to share up to 50 weeks of their maternity leave and 37 weeks of their pay with their partners.

However, analysis carried out by the TUC shows that two-fifths of working dads with a child under one would be ineligible, mainly because their partner is not in paid work. Mothers who don’t have a job (whether employed or self-employed) don’t have a right to maternity leave or pay that they can share.

The TUC says that it welcomes shared parental leave, but is concerned the new scheme will have a very limited impact because of the rules around eligibility and low statutory pay.

Dads’ rights dependent on mothers’

According to the government’s own projections as few as 5,700 men are expected to apply for shared parental leave over the next year.

The TUC estimates that shared parental leave would be open to around 200,000 more fathers each year if their rights to take leave weren’t dependent on the mother being in work and it was a day one right.

The UK is still decades behind other countries when it comes to rights and financial support for new dads, says the TUC.

In countries like Denmark, Norway and Portugal fathers can take paternity leave at 100 per cent of their normal earnings. And in countries like Sweden and Germany families are given extra money if fathers share parental leave more equally with their partner.

75% of poorest dads don’t take full leave

By contrast, statutory paternity pay in the UK is just a quarter of the median weekly wage for full-time male employees and just over half the weekly wage for a worker earning the national minimum wage for a 40-hour week.

Half (50 per cent) of new dads don’t take their full entitlement to two weeks statutory paternity leave – a rate that rises to three in four (75 per cent) for dads on the lowest incomes.

The TUC says that without better rights to leave and pay, many fathers will continue to miss out on playing an active role in the first year of a child’s life.

The TUC wants all new dads to have access to some parental leave that is not tied to their partner’s employment status and is well-paid.

Getting dads involved 

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Shared parental leave is a welcome move but just a small step towards getting dads more involved in their children’s upbringing.

“The UK is still decades behind other European countries when it comes to rights and financial support for new fathers.

“If politicians are serious about men playing a more active role after their child is born they must increase statutory paternity pay and look at introducing some father-only leave that isn’t dependant on their partner being in work.

“Employers must also work more closely with unions who often secure better paternity rights for dads.”

Mums and dads want more 

Mumsnet CEO, Justine Roberts, said: “In a recent survey of Mumsnet users, eight out of ten couples said they would have liked the father to take more paternity leave, and seven out of ten said that financial considerations stopped them from doing so.

“Everyone seems to agree that dads need to be able to spend time with their children, but we don’t yet have the policies that will encourage a real cultural shift.”

Jeremy Davies, from The Fatherhood Institute said:  “International research shows that when fathers take parental leave in addition to their two weeks’ paternity leave, they remain more involved with their children, are happier in their relationships and actually live longer.

“And mothers’ annual earnings increase by seven per cent for every month of parental leave their partner takes.  We need a policy framework that facilitates this for all families.”

The TUC wants the following changes to be implemented:

  • Make fathers’ leave a day one right, as maternity leave is – The TUC estimates that at least one in eleven working fathers are excluded from shared parental leave and paternity leave because they lack the necessary qualifying service with their employer.
  • Introduce an additional month of parental leave and reserve it for fathers only to use – Having some parental leave that is not contingent on a mother’s eligibility to maternity rights would open up paid parental leave to about 200,000 more fathers if the rights were made day one rights as well. It should be paid at 90 per cent of earnings so that most fathers, rather than a tiny minority, use it.
  • Improve statutory pay rates for all leave takers – Relying on employers to top up statutory pay means many families, especially those on low incomes, miss out, says the TUC. Only one in five low-paid fathers gets fully paid paternity leave from their employer and only a quarter of low-paid fathers take their full entitlement to two weeks paternity leave after the birth of their child. Statutory pay for paternity leave and the additional month of father only parental leave, which the TUC proposes, should be increased to 90 per cent of earnings, mirroring the first six weeks of statutory maternity pay.
  • Introduce a paternal/parental allowance for those who don’t qualify for statutory pay – The TUC believes this would benefit over 90,000 self-employed fathers who get no support for taking time off work after they have a child; over 9,000 agency workers who don’t qualify for statutory pay because they’re not employees; and at least 44,000 fathers who are employees but don’t have the necessary length of service to qualify for statutory pay. Such a benefit would mirror the Maternity Allowance which mothers who don’t qualify for Statutory maternity pay can claim.

—Photo: Flickr/TenSafeFrogs

To mark the launch of the film Down Dog, insideMAN is running a series of articles about fatherhood throughout February and we’d love you to get involved. You can join the conversation on twitter by using the hashtag #MenBehavingDADly; leave a comment in the section below or email us with your thoughts and ideas for articles to insideMANeditor@gmail.com.

For more information about the film see www.downdogfilm.com

Election 2015: Fathers’ charity welcomes Labour’s paternity leave plans

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The Fatherhood Institute has welcomed Labour’s plans to double statutory paternity leave from two to four weeks, and increase the rate at which it’s paid by £100 per week.

The institute’s joint chief executive Adrienne Burgess said:

“This would be good news for families and for business. Under the current system, more than 90% of dads take time off around the time of their children’s birth. But only 70% take statutory paternity leave, mainly because it is paid below the minimum wage, so they can’t afford to take it; instead, they use up annual leave, which means they get less time with the family later on in their child’s all-important first year.

“Extending paternity leave and paying it at a higher rate would be good for families because dads would be in a better position to become confident, hands-on carers for their babies – thus freeing up mums and dads to share the load of caring and breadwinning through their babies’ first year and beyond – which we know makes a huge difference to children’s outcomes.

“And it would be good for business because the more you can get dads embedded in hands-on caring early on, the earlier you can get the mums back to work – so companies would feel more confident about retaining both male and female talent.

“Business leaders’ criticisms of the plans as being too expensive are unfounded, because statutory paternity leave is paid for by the state. At the moment some expectant and new dads change jobs because they’re not family-friendly – which is a hidden drain on employers, who may not realise they’re losing staff for this reason.

“The Government’s shared parental leave system, which starts in April 2015, will give some families significantly greater flexibility to make choices about who takes time off – but it won’t be available to everyone.

“Whatever the results of the election, we need the politicians to create a modern, forward-thinking parenting leave system that values fathers’ vital role as hands-on carers as well as breadwinners, and gives all mums and dads the flexibility to make the right choices for their families.”

—Photo: Flickr/Mamchenkov

In the run up to launch of the film Down Dog on 13 February, insideMAN is running a series of articles about fatherhood and we’d love you to get involved. You can join the conversation on twitter by using the hashtag #MenBehavingDADly; leave a comment in the section below or email us with your thoughts and ideas for articles to insideMANeditor@gmail.com.

For more information about the film see www.downdogfilm.com

 

Fatherhood Institute launches #bringingfathersin campaign to get family services thinking about dads

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Across the world, most family interventions and services, whether they’re focused on health, parenting, education or any other aspect of family life, are aimed at mothers – with dads, at best, an afterthought.

But a strong and growing body of research suggests that if you’re serious about improving outcomes for children – and for women too – you need to get fathers on board as well.

Take early education as an example. Did you know that five-year-olds with two supportive parents score higher on language development than those with one or none? Or that 1- to 2-year-olds whose fathers read frequently to them, are more likely to be interested in books later in life? Or that children’s ‘school readiness’ is associated with high levels of fathers’, as well as mothers’, sensitivity?

Are dads being welcomed in?

The Fatherhood Institute’s free new factsheet, Making the most of fathers to support children’s early learning, launched on International Men’s Day, outlines key ways, like these, in which dads really matter. It’s essential reading if your job involves supporting children’s early learning and development.

Now it’s true that dads may sometimes not seem to be queuing up for support from family services. But contrary to popular belief, most of the time this isn’t because fathers lack interest in their children’s progress. Often they won’t even know a service exists; they may feel (justifiably?) that it’s not really aimed at them; they may believe that mums are the only ones who really matter; and they may have never explicitly been invited.

To help get beyond such obstacles, the other resources in the ‘Bringing Fathers In’ #bringingfathersin series include top tips on how to engage dads and the biggest mistakes to avoid; great ideas on ‘messaging’ for anyone advocating for more father-inclusive services; and advice on how to design and evaluate services with fathers in mind.

To find out more about the resources, including ten research summaries that support the series, visit the #bringingfathersin page of the Fatherhood Institute website here

This blog was produced by the Fatherhood Institute.

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Five tips on fatherhood for my teenage son

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What lessons should dads pass on to their children about fatherhood? Jeremy Davies of the Fatherhood Institute shares his top five tips for his teenage son.

—This is article #4 in our series of #100Voices4Men and boys 

As far as I know, my 15 year old son has no immediate plans to become a father. But he’s talked in terms of wanting children when he’s older, as most of us probably do when we’re that age.

So as his dad, and after a decade of studying and advocating for involved fatherhood through my work with the Fatherhood Institute, I thought perhaps I ought to get my pipe and slippers out and share some wisdom on the subject, before he makes me a granddad.

Here are my five top tips:

  1. Don’t work too hard

Modern life is expensive and you’re going to feel the pressure, probably even more than I did, to spend a lot of time and energy on paid work so you can afford it all. Add kids into the mix and life certainly isn’t going to get any cheaper.

But do try to resist the temptation to become a workaholic. If you decide you want to be a dad, you really need to be available and accessible to your children – even if sometimes you’ll wish you could escape and run back to the grown-ups.

Nobody ever lay on their death bed wishing they’d spent more time at work, and plenty of us, men especially, regret not spending more time with our families.

  1. Yes, the washing up too

People often talk about fathers as if they matter because of their distance from the ‘real’ parenting work. We’re cast as the fun ones who pop up with presents and take the kids out to play, who step in to impose discipline, or act as a ‘role model’.

Anyone who peddles this kind of nonsense generally believes that men should be breadwinners, and women are the ‘natural’ caregivers. Please don’t buy into this view.

Earning money is important, but that shouldn’t be all down to you, any more than the other stuff should be all down to your child’s mother (contrary to popular belief, you’re designed to be just as capable of that)

So steer clear of anyone who wants you for your pay packet, and set your stall out from the start as a hands-on dad. It’s the day-to-day involvement that will set you on the road towards a really close relationship with your children. And yes, I’m afraid that does include doing the washing up.

  1. Earn a seat at the ‘top table’

If you were to set up a business with a friend, you’d want both of you to be ‘on top of it all’, so you could make joint decisions and, when necessary, leave the other to get on with it and not mess things up.

There’s no single best way to approach the ‘business’ of parenting. So it’s not necessarily the case that you and your child’s mother have to do literally equal amounts of earning and care-giving (the technical term for ‘the other stuff…including washing up’) at any given time. But after decades of progress towards gender equality, you might want to think about that as your benchmark.

My own view, for what it’s worth, is that parents tend to work best together when each of them plays a significant role in earning the money that makes the business viable, and in doing the dirty work required to develop the end-product (a happy, well-adjusted child who keeps his feet off the seats on public transport).

That’s just an opinion…but even if you disagree (damn that independent streak of yours) the evidence is there that by spending time early on becoming a sensitive parent, you’ll put yourself in a better position to help your child thrive.

And if you both get good at the care-giving, successful co-parenting – sharing the decision-making and coordination of the ‘parenting business’ (so both of you are ‘bosses’ at home) – is more likely to follow. And that’s good too.

So chuck out the gender stereotypes and get stuck in. Trust me, you’re a testament to how well this stuff works.

  1. Stand up and be counted

As a hands-on dad, a lot of the time you’ll feel like a square peg in a very round hole. The world’s still set up as if parenting is a game for girls. Things are changing, but sloooooowly.

So expect to have to stand your ground at work – or if necessary jump off the career ladder altogether – to achieve the balance you want.

As things stand, our highly gendered parenting leave system does little to encourage employers to support you as involved dad

Don’t be surprised if midwives and health visitors ignore or talk over you, if schools address everything to mum, and if people stare at you or make stupid comments that suggest you’re a slacker and second-class parent.

Be brave, little man. Enjoy and stay proud of your role as an involved father, and whenever you get the chance, do what you can to change others’ attitudes. The more dads kick against the system, the more balanced the world will be by the time your children become parents.

  1. You don’t have to do any of this

Finally, once you’ve thought about all that, please remember the following…

Lots of us have it in us to be great parents, but there’s a big wide world out there, full of wonderful things to see and do.

So find what makes you happy.

The planet’s pretty full already, and lots of people find fulfilment without reproducing. Hell, there’s even some evidence that they have happier relationships as a result.

So if happiness for you includes having kids, that’s great – but if you’re going to do it, do it right. Or just don’t have them. Either is fine.

Now finish your homework. Oh and your room needs tidying, by the way…

—Picture Credit: Flickr/Stephan Hochhaus

Jeremy Davies is head of communications at the Fatherhood Institute, you can follow their work on facebook and @fatherhoodinst. 

You can find all of the #100Voices4Men articles that will be published in the run up to International Men’s Day 2014 by clicking on this link—#100Voices4Men—and follow the discussion on twitter by searching for #100Voices4Men.

The views expressed in these articles are not the views of insideMAN editorial team. Whether you agree with the views expressed in this article or not we invite you to take take part in this important discussion, our only request is that you express yourself in a way that ensures everyone’s voice can be heard.

You can join the #100Voices4Men discussion by commenting below; by following us on Twitter @insideMANmag and Facebook or by emailing insideMANeditor@gmail.com. 

 

 

Parenting programmes exclude dads says UK fatherhood charity

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Parenting programmes around the world are excluding fathers and the UK is no exception according to international research published this month.

The Fatherhood Institute and leading experts from US and UK universities say a ‘game change’ is needed in the commissioning, design and evaluation of parenting programmes, to get fathers more involved and thus improve child outcomes, and return on taxpayers’ investment.

Research shows clearly that fathers have substantial impact on child development, well-being, and family functioning. But a global review of evidence by researchers at Yale University and the Fatherhood Institute in London, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, has found that they are largely ignored by parenting programmes in the UK and elsewhere.

The review looked at evidence about thousands of parenting programmes, which are delivered mainly to mothers every year across the world. It found that parenting programmes rarely attempt to engage with fathers or evaluate their impact on key outcomes for both parents. It identified only 199 that included some evidence of father-inclusion or father impact on child or family outcomes. Among the 34 ‘exemplar’ programmes the researchers highlighted, just three were in the UK.

Time to wake up to dads

Fatherhood Institute head of research and joint chief executive Adrienne Burgess, who co-authored the review with a team from Yale University in the US, described it as a ‘wake-up call’ for everyone involved in early years and other family services.

“Those who commission, design and provide support to families are failing children by ignoring dads’ crucial role. Delivering support just to mothers places all the responsibility on their shoulders, and any benefits are likely to be undermined when the other parent (usually the dad) doesn’t understand what’s going on and isn’t brought ‘on board’,” she said.

It’s worth noting that, perhaps unsurprisingly, many dads are wary of parenting interventions. They often prefer to trust to instinct in such matters….and feel – again, with justification – uncomfortable about sitting in a room mainly full of women, to be told (usually by a woman) how to do things they either a) feel they’re pretty good at already, b) don’t feel confident about or c) a mixture of the above.

Adrienne Burgess points out that in fact, scientists’ understanding of ‘good parenting’ has progressed considerably in recent years…so it ought to be possible to create parenting interventions that appeal to, and provide useful insights for, a wide cross-section of dads and mums.

Involving dad benefits everyone

“I cannot think of one parent (mother or father), including myself, who would not benefit from a high quality intervention in parenting,” she says. “The science of good parenting has advanced hugely over the last couple of decades. As an example, we now know that when a baby keeps throwing an item out of its high chair, this is the equivalent of the baby ‘going to the gym’ – they are repeatedly practising the physical challenge as well as developing the synaptic pathways in their brain. Mothers or fathers who understand this will generally be far more tolerant, and actively encourage, this kind of activity, rather than being annoyed by it or ignoring it.

“Fathers and mothers can be delighted by the information and strategies they learn on parenting courses. The point of our research was to point out that it’s mainly mums who benefit – professionals and course designers do little to attract dads or understand their perspectives. And although children benefit enormously when BOTH parents complete courses, almost no course providers make a real effort to get both parents to attend or include material that supports ‘parenting together’. And evaluations rarely look at the impact of the courses on fathers or couples, so that they could develop areas that aren’t meeting their needs.”

The review didn’t attempt to address the bigger question of whether or not parenting programmes actually work, what it is about them that works, and for whom – but the researchers did point out that cost-effectiveness analysis of such programmes is rare and previous analysis by the Fatherhood Institute has suggested that programmes work best where both parents are engaged.

The UK Government, which has experimented with the idea of subsidising parenting support through its CAN Parent programme, recently announced an extension of its ‘troubled families’ programme to 500,000 families, as well as doubling funds for relationship counselling to £19.5 million. Whether it will take the evidence on board and act to ensure these programmes address dads’ needs as well as mums’, remains to be seen.

—Photo Credit: National Childcare Trust

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How brain science is proving the ancient importance of fathers. (Or, How Babies Bend Men’s Brains…)

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Duncan Fisher, former CEO of the Fatherhood Institute and founder of MumsandDadsNet, explains why the equal importance of mums and dads isn’t just a matter of opinion — it’s backed by brain science.

The latest research showing that adult brains change in response to caring for children is a game changer – it happens to fathers as well as mothers. The changes in the brains of men who are highly involved in caring for babies are similar to what happens in mothers’ brains.

This latest research, coming hard upon new knowledge about how hormones in men work in response to babies – with a similar pattern of a bigger change with more frequent exposure – fits perfectly with the theory of human childrearing proposed by anthropologists like Sarah Hrdy.

This theory says that babies and children are dependent on group care by adults and that the contribution of men throughout human history has been so substantial and so critical to human survival, albeit very variable in different environments, that human men have evolved substantial capacities to care for infants.

Part of human history

These capacities can remain dormant – in a way that is much less likely for a woman who actually goes through the experience of birth – but they are triggered by exposure to pregnant women and babies. And once triggered, they result in changed lives for both the child and the man who is caring.

This new research also corroborates the evidence that men who are involved a lot in caring for their infants early on are more likely to be highly involved for the remainder of their children’s lives.

I believe this new evidence presents the strongest argument yet of the importance of fathers’ bonding with their babies from the earliest moments – and the evidence shows that it is not just bonding between fathers and their own biological children that can yield these life-long changes. It can be any man. That too is consistent with the human history of group care of infants.

Advocates and champions

Babies who are bonded with men in this way are safer and will do better in their future lives because of it. These children will have more protectors and more advocates and champions.  That’s one of the advantages that group care confers and has been a vital factor in the growth of the human race. Had this not been so for many hundreds of thousands of years, there would have been no evolutionary pressure for human men to develop these strong capacities to bond and to care.

In the modern world, these bonds will give fathers the strength to fight against the forces that do not want fathers to be close to their children – the cultural beliefs that caring is “feminine” and that men are biologically impaired on this front, the feminisation of the whole world of caring for children, the institutional barriers that men face when trying to take time off work and get support in their role as carers, the idea that lack of father involvement is all down to the weakness and uncaring of men.

I rejoice that all over the world we are seeing men who want to be closer to their children than their fathers were to them. I rejoice at the celebration of father-child relationships that is flourishing among teenagers and young adults on social media – Tom Fletcher’s song has got 9.5 million views so far. This is a massive force for good in the world, not just for children but for the whole human race.

What a great privilege I feel it is to work for the protection and promotion of strong relationships between fathers and their babies!

To read more great articles by Duncan and hear about the latest research and thinking on co-parenting, check out www.mumsanddads.com. This article was first published there on June 1 2014.

Photo courtesy: cheriejoyful

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Lack of men in childcare driving gender pay gap says UK fatherhood charity

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Men and boys are being actively excluded from careers in the UK childcare sector and this discrimination against men is contributing to the “gender pay gap”, according to a leading fatherhood charity.

In a briefing paper to the Government, the Fatherhood Institute argues that “women in the UK are still substantially disadvantaged in relation to men” and that “occupational segregation” is a “substantial driver” of the gender inequalities that women experience.

With the childcare sector still overwhelmingly staffed by women, the pro-feminist, fatherhood think tank argues that professionals providing careers advice should be required to “examine their own prejudices……and promote the interests of boys and men in pursuing childcare and caring work” in order to improve “gender balance” in the sector.

Jobs for the girls 

According to the Fatherhood Institute, childcare is still largely seen as a “job for the girls” and this causes women to “internalise the notion that caring is something women ‘do better’ or, even, that such caring comes ‘more naturally’ to women”.

“When professional childcare is defined as ‘women’s work’, women’s identities as carers-for-children are reinforced in the private sphere, both boys and girls see caring as a role for women,” says the charity’s briefing paper.

“All this has direct impact on women’s earnings and on national productivity, as the majority of mothers pursue the ‘mummy track’ of relatively low-paid part-time work. This, above all, drives the gender pay gap.”

Men are scared of what people think

An estimated 98% of childcare workers in the UK are women and recent research by the London Early Years Foundation revealed that 50% of male childcare workers are worried about what others might think of them. They fear facing peer pressure; negativity from parents about issues like nappy changing and the risk of false allegations of child abuse, says the charity.

On the upside, 98% of female nursery workers want male colleagues and 77% of the public are in favour of men becoming early years workers. Research also suggests that a significant minority of 14-15 year old boys are open to childcare work with one in four saying a career in caring “sounds interesting” and one in eight saying they are interested in working with children.

The government must take action

According to the Fatherhood Institute, the Government needs to take a strategic approach to increasing the number and proportion of men and boys who undertake care work. The actions it recommends include recognising that boys and men are actively and passively discouraged from pursuing careers in childcare; making a positive case for how young children benefit from more men looking after them professionally and campaigning to support both men and boys and women and girls to work in non-traditional sectors.

The charity proposes an “Inspiring Men” campaign to introduce male volunteers into schools to talk about being an involved father; working in non-traditional job roles and balancing work with childcare and caring.

The benefit to women, says the institute, is that getting more men into childcare will help address other areas of gender inequality which it says include: “women’s over-representation in low and unpaid work in both public and the private spheres; inequalities in remuneration for equal work or work of equal value; the gender pay gap more widely; and under-representation of women in senior management, local government, national government and on Boards.”

—Photo credit: Flickr/John Benson

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