Selling fatherhood / selling gender-equality Adrienne Burgess Research Manager The Fatherhood...
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Transcript of Selling fatherhood / selling gender-equality Adrienne Burgess Research Manager The Fatherhood...
Selling fatherhood / selling gender-equality
Adrienne Burgess
Research ManagerThe 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: historyThe Fatherhood Institute: history
Founded: 1999 (registered charity)Current team: 8 plus secretariat and freelance trainersLocation: 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:The Fatherhood Institute: activitiesactivities: :
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 fathersTraining & consultancyMedia 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
Maternal wellbeingPaternal 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 essential2. Fathers’ value not dependent on male/female
DIFFERENCE 3. Fathers as important to daughters as to sons4. 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 orientation6. “Bad dads” very influential and therefore should
be engaged with7. “No dads” impact on children8. Fathers impact on MOTHERS9. Services cannot take a gender-neutral approach
to engaging with dads and hope to engage them10. Father-inclusive practice, not parallel services
for men/fathers, is the way forward11. 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
. . . . never
. . . . 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&cID=586
Fathers and Smoking http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=2&cID=579
Fathers and Breastfeedinghttp://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=2&cID=581
Fathers and Postnatal Depression http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=2&cID=580
Young Fathers http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=13&cID=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