Post-Pandemic Paternity: The role of men, fatherhood, and caregiving as allies for gender equality.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced billions of parents into paternity leave.  For billions of billions of children around the world their parents were at home with them while schools were shuttered.  It saw an increase in parental caregiving like no time before.  Women, who have always taken on the overwhelming majority of care giving duties, saw those duties increase.  But for hundreds of millions of families with fathers it also involved those fathers contributing more to care giving as well.  Pre-pandemic, the expectations of men to work and provide for their families, and often in work that put their bodies and mental health a risk, was standard.  But in this pandemic pause, what can be learned from the value of fatherhood and caregiving?  Gary Barker, the CEO of Promundo, suggests that this is the moment to embrace paternity as a means to improving caregiving, but also gender equality. As Dr. Barker suggests, smart policies are needed to embrace fatherhood as valuable "care", rather than policies that encourage men to risk their bodies, minds and well being to "provide" for their families.   Gary Barker, PhD, is a leading global voice in engaging men and boys in advancing gender equality and positive masculinities. He is the CEO and founder of Promundo, which has worked for 20 years in more than 40 countries. Promundo’s approaches have been incorporated into ministries of health and education around the world. Promundo is a Global Consortium with members in Brazil, the US, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Portugal. Gary is co-founder of MenCare, a global campaign working in 45 countries to promote men’s involvement as caregivers, and co-founder of MenEngage, a global alliance of more than 700 NGOs. He created and leads the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), the largestever survey of men’s attitudes and behaviors related to violence, fatherhood, and gender equality. He is a co-author of the 2015 and 2017 State of the World's Fathers reports.  He has advised the UN, the World Bank, numerous national governments, and key international foundations and corporations on strategies to engage men and boys in promoting gender equality. In 2017 he was named by Apolitical as one of the 20 most influential people in gender policy around the world. He is an Ashoka Fellow and received the Voices of Solidarity Award from Vital Voices for his work to engage men for gender equality. He holds a PhD. in Developmental Psychology. Learn more about Promundo here. (https://promundoglobal.org) Learn more about MenCare here.  (https://men-care.org) Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish