Action Dad

The main purpose of the Action Dad project is to contribute to the awareness raising of (prospective) parents, employers, the professional and general public about the importance of actively involving men in paternity and a more equal distribution of parental care for the child from birth. The project will last 24 months, from 1.3.2020 to 28.2.2022, and will be implemented at several levels: between (prospective) parents, between employers, between workers in the fields of health, midwifery and social work, and general public.

Overall goal of the project is the reduction of the deep-rooted inequalities that still persist between women and men in relation to paid/unpaid work, the uptake of family related leaves and to enable people with caring responsibilities to better balance their work with family commitments. Achieving that, project approaches the topic on three levels, corresponding with following objectives:

Referring to the state (macro level):
– To ensure successful implementation of the Work – Life Balance Directive, especially in terms of providing appropriate legal and policy measures for more balanced uptake of family-related leave between men and women.
– To simplify the exercises of parental rights and take positive measures that enable and assist future fathers to enjoy their share of parental leave.
On the macro, state level, the project is oriented towards providing expert basis for detecting the needs of working parents, taking the most appropriate measures for work-life balance, as well as to train and encourage social partners and health-care experts (implementing the workshops for future parents, such as maternity hospitals, local health centres), and to institutions providing information on sharing the child-related leave (centres for social work) to promote an active fatherhood and more gender balanced take-up of parental leave.

Referring to employers (mezzo level):
– To encourage employers to adopt internal policies and practises for gender neutral approach to work-life balance and to recognize positive effects of active fatherhood from birth of the child on for their employed fathers.
On the mezzo, organisational level, project brings to the force the aspect and the role of employers in work-life balance policymaking and emphasizes interlacing of present policy and business planning. The role of employers within the project is important in regard to their contribution to raising awareness about the issue of work-life balance for all employees (parents, carers).

Referring to the individual men and women (micro level):
– To address and to reduce gender stereotypes in the area of work–life balance and to promote more equal sharing of childcare responsibilities.
On the micro level, the project is oriented to awareness-raising activities to encourage men in greater childcare involvement, to focus on the positive aspects of fathers’ involvement in childcare from their earliest age and to tackle gender-based stereotypes in the field of childcare.

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