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Fatherhood is part of men’s lives. In recent years this has become increasingly evident both in social and family life as testified the significant changes in men’s attitudes to:

• Attending the delivery of their children
• Participating in their children’s lives
• Establishing strong and lasting relations with their children
• Developing their engagement in family life towards a more equal distribution of work and responsibility

There are numerous gender-stereotypes in the area of parent/child relationships. These generally centre on men’s and women’s respective attitude for child-care; children’s needs for both their parents; and men’s (and their partner’s) desire for equality. These stereotypes are evident in the labour market; the ways health systems and health professionals serve men as fathers; the ways social and economical structures obstruct men’s involvement in family life; and the ways cultural practices and traditions prevent men from changing.

Although more and more families in Europe seem to desire equal parenthood and are attempting to practice it, men far too frequently encounter gender stereotypes and structural obstacles. This is still happening in a context where the vast majority of fathers in many European countries attend the delivery of their child, where increasing numbers of men take parental leave (though these numbers are still small when compared to similar figures for women), and where men’s involvement in nurturing is on the increase. It seems that men encounter a passive, sometimes even reluctant attitude from professionals and health authorities as well as from general society whenever they appear in the role of nurturing fathers, which seems to be what an increasing number of European families actually want. Such gender stereotypes indirectly support a view of fathers' presence in their children’s lives - and in family life - as being of little importance. This means that the actual involvement of fathers is ignored. This is currently becoming increasingly evident both at a societal and a research level.

Changes are underway in several European countries in spite of significant national differences both on a legal and a knowledge-level. Although the level and scope of political and cultural support for equal parenting varies from country to country, it is possible to find examples of good practices in most European countries. This stress on the praxis of good fatherhood has crystallized into a focus on changing the gendered structure of society.

The aim of this website is:

• To present important knowledge on men’s transition to fatherhood
• To present best practices aimed at strengthening fathers’ bonds to their children and improving gender equality for men as fathers from birth onwards.

Thus the goal is to promote good practice to assist professionals in supporting involved, caring fathering. There is a need for a certain focus on knowledge of men’s psychological transition to fatherhood and how to overcome gender stereotypes in this respect.

Our team understands such emerging models of fatherhood as core issues in enhancing and empowering equal opportunities among men and women both in public and private life.

Hence a large part of this website is devoted to presenting models of support for “good fatherhood”. Good fatherhood in this respect means competent nurturing of children including men’s involvement in day-to-day childcare and an equal distribution of responsibility and daily chores. We want these good practices as well as this highly skilled professional input, and specialized research to become models for supporting good fatherhood based especially on experiences from Denmark and other Nordic countries, while including contributions from Germany, the Czech Republic and other European countries.

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