On August 25, 2023, Equimundo hosted a webinar in a joint effort of both our international campaigns (MenCare and the Global Boyhood Initiative) for the third webinar in the CARING series, “Revolutionize the way boys are taught about care,” highlighting strategic recommendations from the State of the World’s Fathers report.
In a historical moment when parents in many countries are worried about their sons following online misogynistic content, care has become a key countermeasure and necessary path forward. Research confirms that boys who see their fathers do care work are far more likely to do care work themselves, but there has been no global push for boys to do care work or enter the care professions. Indeed, in most countries, men’s participation in care professions – nursing, elder care, childcare, primary school teaching, and others – has barely changed. Most people haven’t even heard of the HEAL professions – health, education, administration, and literacy.
Quite simply we must teach, oblige, nudge, and support boys to see care as normal and necessary, to appreciate it, and to do it alongside their sisters and female peers. For this to happen, we also need to acknowledge that gendered norms around care start very early. The care revolution must begin in childhood – and boys must be part of it.