Welcome to the website on European Fatherhood.
We present information on men, equality, and fatherhood in Europe.
The content is for professionals working in the area as well as anyone interested in the subject.
»What I find most important right now is supporting fathers in finding work/life balance. Fathers, their partners, and employers all benefit from such a balance. Our research shows that work life balance also translates into improved performance in the workplace«
»The issue of gender and fatherhood is less about people and more about the social setting people are in. And that setting is society, its structure, its institutions and its language. So if we want to promote new approaches to gender and fatherhood, we should focus a lot of attention on the social setting people operate within.«
»If you go looking for differences between men and women you will certainly find them, but what does that tell you about gender? Nothing, because its not the real issue. The issue is our daily practices. They define us as men and women, mothers and fathers.«
»It so happened; the final case example in my PhD thesis on mothers and postnatal depression was a father who had developed psychological problems following the birth of his child. That was the beginning of my work on the subjective aspects of men and fatherhood.«
»To me the issue of fatherhood is about sharing. Not just about sharing the responsibilities of becoming a parent, but also about sharing the role of caregiver as a means for both mothers and fathers to fully share the joy of parenthood.«
Eberhard Schaefer, MA
Iva Šmídová, Ph.D.
Lukas Sedlacek
Svend Aage Madsen, Ph.D. (Head of project)
Tina Juhl
With support from the European Community - Programme relating to the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2006).The information contained in this website does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission.