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Globally, women spend up to 10 times more time on unpaid care and household work than men, according to a report released Wednesday at the Women Deliver conference in Vancouver.
The report of "The State of the Fathers of the World” (State of the World's Fathers) was produced by the gender equality organization “Promundo” together with “Dove Man+Care”, and looked specifically at the time that men and women spent on unpaid care, such as for children or family members and doing household chores.
In the report, 85% of dads said they would do anything to be more involved in caring for their new baby – but the study found they are still taking on far less than mums.
"We've made remarkably little progress," Gary Barker, president and founder of Promundo, said at a news conference. "Men have increased their time devoted to unpaid care by seven minutes."
The researchers collected data from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. They calculated that if women worked 50 minutes less per day in unpaid work and men worked 50 minutes more, middle- and high-income countries would see a large impact on achieving parity in unpaid care.
Barker added that not only does no country have men doing 50% of unpaid care, but no country has formally committed to working towards it – which is why Promundo launched “Men's Commitment to Care for Governments” (Men Care Commitment for Governments) this week with the support of “Women Deliver”.
Men's Commitment to Caring calls for governments to commit to providing better parental leave, childcare, health policies, communication campaigns and data collection. Promundo hopes to have the signature of at least 50 governments, and is asking employers and civil society to engage in this change as well.
The report identified three major barriers that need to be addressed if men are to take a more active role in unpaid care. First, there is a lack of adequate paid parental leave for men, but even when it is available it is not used enough.
Only 48% of the world's countries offer paternity leave, and even when it is offered, it is sometimes only for a few days, the report shows. Less than half of fathers took as much time as they were allowed.
what does #fatherhood mean to you? Read the State of the #WorldsFathers 2019 report at: https://t.co/hV2hDTXNcp pic.twitter.com/18ZNf4c4u1
— Promundo-US (@Promundo_US) June 6, 2019
"We've seen that when men are involved early on, they become active caregivers throughout their child's life and that paternity leave really does have benefits for everyone," said Molly Kennedy, manager of the Dove Man + Care Movement. ” (Care for men) at the press conference.
Among other things, the report points to the existing stereotype that women are better caregivers, combined with the limitation of gender norms. The report noted that men generally rely more on their female partners for parenting knowledge and information.
Finally, the report points to the lack of economic security and government support for all caregivers and parents. More than 76% of mothers and 59% of fathers cited financial barriers as the main reason for not taking more parental leave.
Brian Heilman, researcher at "Promundo", said that he hopes that everyone will see their stories and desires reflected in this research.
"We're not talking about some distant scientific topic that ... none of us can find ourselves," Heilman said at the press conference. "We are talking about a real matter of the heart, an issue that we think about and interact with on a daily basis."
*Citizens Channel /EN/
