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Description
Unequal distribution of care work is one of the key aspects of gender inequality. Women in Croatia spend 2-3 times more time than men on unpaid care and household chores. Since most childcare duties fall on women, it has various negative consequences on career development for most of them. Rifts in personal and professional duties also have negative consequences for the mental and physical health and social life of women. Croatia is among the EU member states where men (fathers) use parental leave the least. In addition, Croatia is one of the few EU countries with not regulated paternity leave. Attitudes and patterns of behavior related to unpaid care work need to be changed if we are to make a significant shift in power relations between women and men and achieve gender equality. The project aims to contribute to gender equality in Croatia by increasing the capacity of civil society organizations and other actors to work directly with men to promote engaged parenthood; encouraging men to become active, caring and non-violent fathers and partners and raising public awareness about the importance of equal division of care work. Thanks to the project, fathers and future fathers will take on a more active and caring role as parents and partners and a more critical attitude towards violence. Also, the project will contribute to the increase in the number and reach of fatherhood programs and will raise public awareness about the importance of active and involved fatherhood. The project will also contribute to the long-term quality of life of men, the promotion of women''s and children''s rights, the promotion of women''s health and the reduction of gender-based violence and violence against children. Project partner, Association Roda is focused on mothers and motherhood, which complement focus of the project promoter (on men/fathers, Roma not specifically addressed in this project) in addressing equal division of power among partners/ parents and care work with children.
Summary of project results
The conflict between family and business obligations has serious negative consequences for the mental and physical health of working women and their social life. These problems are even more intense in some local communities where strong gender stereotypes still prevail (rural areas, Roma communities...). Croatia is among the EU member states where men (fathers) use parental leave the least. In addition, Croatia is one of the few countries in the EU that does not have regulated paternity leave. Analyzes have shown that of all the activities related to household and family affairs, the partner''s involvement in childcare is the most important factor that can enable mothers to avoid the negative consequences that childcare can have on their personal and professional lives. It is necessary to change attitudes and patterns of behavior related to the performance of care and household chores if we want to make a significant shift in power relations between women and men and achieve gender equality.
With the project, we increased the capacities of civil society organizations and other actors to work directly with men to encourage involved fatherhood; encouraged men to engage in fatherhood, non-violent child rearing and household chores; contributed to the awareness of the public and decision-makers about the importance of an equal division of care work and household chores
Thanks to the acquired knowledge and attitudes, fathers and future fathers assume a more active fatherly role, a more equal relationship with their partner, and a more critical attitude towards violence. Workshops for fathers, which were held live and online, contributed to the above result. The live workshops were held in Rijeka, Čakovec and Zagreb, and 31 fathers and/or fathers-to-be participated in them, and 23 men participated in the online workshops.
Another activity that contributed to the realization of this result is the Advent calendar for dads and children. The Advent Calendar is an online application intended for fathers that offers them creative ideas for spending quality time with children, interesting information and advice on parenting and the like. The awareness of the general public about the importance of active and involved fatherhood was increased through the Photo Contest of the Festival of Dads, the photo exhibition of the Festival of Dads, video clips and the held conference.