Engaged Fatherhood for Men, Families and Gender Equality

Front matter

Marc Grau Gráu Mirēia la Heras M

Hannah Riley Bowl Fi as rat

Engaged Fatherhood

Preface

It is with great excitement that I write this preface, mostly because the topic is of utmost relevance: fatherhood, and how to facilitate it in organizations and countries. This book presents medical evidence of the benefits of responsible, committed fatherhood to children; to fathers; and to families, which means that is of much relevance also for society and organizations.

Family values are the strong base upon which society is based. The industrial revolution installed the breadwinner-homemaker system. Ever since, the role of the father as caring educator and role model has been devaluated. In the breadwinner-homemaker system, men were the sole family wage earners and women were full-time homemakers, with no external or paid jobs. Thus, children and the home were entrusted to women, and men had no responsibility over them. Today, there are few, if any, societies in which the breadwinner-homemaker model is still prevalent. Yet, the role of the father has not yet been restored to its full essence. In practice, fatherhood receives very little recognition. Institutions, organizations, and society do not facilitate men to fully develop in their roles as fathers. In this book, we aim to help in this restoration. We do so taking an interdisciplinary approach.

Social Trends Institute (STI) has made this book possible. STI provided funds, but even more importantly, they provided help and guidance as we were delineating the objectives of, and managing invitations to participate in, the meeting. Our special thanks go to Tracey O’Donnell, who has been, behind the scenes, the power making things happen. Also, our recognition to Carlos Cavallé, the founder of STI, who inspired us to go beyond our own dreams for the project. We would like to extend our gratitude to the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at the Harvard Kennedy School. They graciously hosted the main meeting in their facilities back in 2018. Within the WAPPP, our recognition to Hannah Riley Bowles, one of the co-editors of the book, who has worked tirelessly to make this a success for all involved: researchers, institutions, and potential audience as well.

I also thank IESE and the research center I have the privilege to direct, the International Center for Work-Family (CWF). When Marc Grau, a research fellow at WAPPP, offered us the opportunity to contribute to the project it was a no-brainer vi Preface for many reasons. First, it is always a pleasure working with Marc Grau. He worked for the ICWF for over 5 years and has been on the organizing committee of our biannual International Work Family Conference for the last five editions. Marc has always contributed his best with a laudable attitude and work ethic. Second, the topic is of much relevance for me as a person, and as a researcher and business professor.

Personally, I have had the joy of having had a loving father. He was very much involved in the family and always trusted my capability and supported my desire to study Engineering, do an MBA, and pursue a doctorate in the USA, very far away from home. Having had such experience, I desire that many people share in it. As a researcher, I study how experiences bidirectionally spillover from home to work, and how they crossover from one spouse to another. Thus, I find that fatherhood is one of the understudied topics that urgently calls for attention.

This book contributes to understanding fatherhood, its benefits, and its challenges, offering 17 chapters divided mainly in three parts: Health and Wellbeing, Social Policy, and Work and Organizations. These chapters offer a nice mix of qualitative, quantitative, and reviews methods that help readers to get a nuanced and rich understanding of the topic. These 17 chapters present data that represent many countries in the world. In the Americas: the USA, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic; in Asia: Korea; in Europe: France, Norway, Romania, Scotland, and Spain; in Oceania: Australia; and in Africa: South Africa.

It is our firm believe that we should no longer hold to the myth of the separate worlds. Technology has erased barriers between work and non-work. Globalization demands that services are offered 24/7. Labor markets are more and more inclusive of women and people with various competencies and capabilities. The myth of separate worlds has long disappeared.

The terrible pandemic that all countries experienced in 2020 has forced most people around the world to work from home. They have worked from home while the whole family was there: either attending classes, being quarantined, or working. This has only been a clear example of the current reality in which we live in: work and non-work are no longer separate. Also, the ideal worker, a male who had a person at home who would care for the family, long ago died. The new ideal worker has to emerge, and this ideal will be, either male or female, one who has multiple responsibilities, interests, and needs. To achieve a more fair, inclusive world, all those interests, needs, and personal situations should be welcomed and facilitated. And one notable responsibility is fatherhood. It is time to restore it to its original value. This book aims to contribute to it.

Barcelona, Spain Mireia las Heras Maestro

Contents

Launching a Cross-disciplinary and Cross-national Conversation

Marc Grau Grau and Hannah Riley Bowles

PartI Health and Wellbeing