Selling fatherhood selling genderequality Adrienne Burgess Research Manager
Selling fatherhood / selling gender-equality Adrienne Burgess Research Manager The Fatherhood Institute (London) March 2009, Rio
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT UK very low down on the UNICEF league table as a “good place” to grow up as a child Highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe 1: 3 children will experience their parents’ separation before age 16: HOWEVER • lone motherhood a “stage” not a “condition” • 50% of children in separated families see father at least weekly
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT (CONT). Highly gender-differentiated leave entitlements: • 2 weeks (paid) paternity leave • 39 weeks (paid) maternity leave • no paid parental leave Highest level of father-involvement in Europe, outside of the Scandinavian countries: • English fathers do 25 -33% of child caretaking • 1972 -1995 father-involvement increased 800% from 15 minutes to 2 hours on average working day. Involved fatherhood an important social discourse (also in immigrant communities)
THE “DEFICIT PERSPECTIVE” When men take care of children. . .
The Fatherhood Institute: history Founded: 1999 (registered charity) Current team: 8 plus secretariat and freelance trainers Location: across England (a “virtual” team) Original name: Fathers Direct (name changed 2008) Funding: mainly ONE DEPARTMENT in government Described as: the UK’s fatherhood ‘think tank’
The Fatherhood Institute: activities: Research (to provide the evidence base) Policy work (changing legislation, policy and guidelines – national and local) Publications: • “how to engage” for professionals (capacity building) • for professionals to give to fathers Training & consultancy Media campaigns
The Fatherhood Institute: vision The Fatherhood Institute works to create a society that • gives all children a strong and positive relationship with their father AND any father-figures • supports both mothers and fathers as earners and carers • prepares boys and girls for a future shared role in caring for children.
Child wellbeing Paternal wellbeing Maternal wellbeing ▼ SOCIETAL WELLBEING
Gender equality and fatherhood: • Fatherhood is one of the few relatively easy ways by which one can talk about gender • Active fatherhood should help achieve some of the key goals in gender equality • more sex equality at work • more sharing of household chores • boys and girls more androgynous in their approaches to earning/caring • lower levels of DV/sexual abuse
Fatherhood Institute: our orientation 1. Fathers desirable, not essential 2. Fathers’ value not dependent on male/female DIFFERENCE 3. Fathers as important to daughters as to sons 4. Fathers and father-figures not the same: some cross-over, but children think about them differently and so should we 5. High father-involvement usually positive BUT. . .
Fatherhood Institute: our orientation 6. “Bad dads” very influential and therefore should be engaged with 7. “No dads” impact on children 8. Fathers impact on MOTHERS 9. Services cannot take a gender-neutral approach to engaging with dads and hope to engage them 10. Father-inclusive practice, not parallel services for men/fathers, is the way forward 11. Much of the most important work on fatherhood is done not with fathers, but with children, mothers and the wider family
Discourses/issues we do not associate the Fatherhood Institute with: 1. Separation / divorce 2. Enlisting men and boys in the fight against gender-based violence 3. The “trouble with boys” 4. “Men in crisis” 6. Fathers as “role models” 7. Marriage
And we try. . . . never to be publicly ANGRY
Some examples of our work: research Research summaries freely available on our website Main Research Summary: ‘The Costs & Benefits of Active Fatherhood’ http: //www. fathersdirect. com/index. php? id=0&c. ID=586 Fathers and Smoking http: //www. fathersdirect. com/index. php? id=2&c. ID=579 Fathers and Breastfeeding http: //www. fathersdirect. com/index. php? id=2&c. ID=581 Fathers and Postnatal Depression http: //www. fathersdirect. com/index. php? id=2&c. ID=580 Young Fathers http: //www. fathersdirect. com/index. php? id=13&c. ID=575 AND MANY MORE. . .
An example of our work: policy STEP ONE: Get headline government policy documents to refer to MOTHERS and FATHERS not PARENTS STEP TWO: Get the relevant government Department to audit how well headline policy is being translated into practice (FINDING – badly!) STEP THREE: Government runs campaign to rectify this: “Think Fathers” STEP FOUR: We ensure this isn’t the end of the matter. . .
An example of our work: practice
Some examples of our work: Materials for professionals to give dads
An example of our work: public campaigning – MATERNITY SERVICES
www. fatherhoodinstitute. org
- Slides: 19