The theme for International Men’s Day 2016 is Stop Male Suicide. I know the family of a man who has taken his own life in the last few weeks. It is tragic and on the increase and certainly at the Mind Media Awards last week, this was one of the highlighted concerns. Professor Green’s very powerful documentary about the suicide of his father was one of programmes shortlisted for an award.
The objectives of International Men’s Day include a focus on men’s and boy’s health, improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, and highlighting positive male role models. It is an occasion for men to celebrate their achievements and contributions, in particular their contributions to community, family, marriage, and child care while highlighting the discrimination against them.
So where are we in terms of equal gender issues these days? Not very far if you look at who has just taken over the White House, with his basic views on women and extreme gender differentiation. Clearly in the UK the gender pay gap is still an issue as is the shared work load for parents and there are unspoken fears of men across the nation about a lack of confidence in, and negative attitudes towards, Shared Parental Leave (SPL), with financial implications a major reason for men not taking time off with young families.
The Southbank Centre have released the results of a survey ahead of their “Being A Man” festival which shows that 52% of men who have taken Shared Parental Leave worry that it wasn’t in the best interests of their child and 51% say men taking it run the risk of being seen as “less of a man”. Whilst 63% of men who are eligible for the leave agree that it can contribute to a child’s emotional and educational development, 33% of men who chose not to take it say they made that decision as they think their partner is the best person to look after their children.
Ted Hodgkinson, Southbank Centre’s Lead Programmer for BAM, said: “These findings give a stark picture of how new fathers are missing out on crucial time with their children due to fears about how parental leave is viewed by employers, and society. Without better exploring and challenging the weight of traditional expectations about men’s roles and issues more widely, in a safe space, families and society will continue to lose out. It also shows that the female role hasn’t evolved that much either as a result.
“These statistics give us a detailed insight into the unspoken fears that shape many men’s lives, and show their power to prevent new fathers from spending crucial time with their children. They evidence the need for spaces in which concerns can be shared, in which we can challenge the weight of those traditional expectations. Because by not spending time with their children, it’s not just parent and child who lose out, but society as a whole.”
Only 36% of those eligible for SPL have taken it and 81% of them have opted to take 15 weeks or less, compared to the 50 weeks that they are entitled to take. Fewer than two in five men who are eligible for the leave say they are aware of it, and understand it. 73% of fathers who weren’t aware of the leave would have considered taking it if they had known about it.
Nearly seventy per cent of those who chose not to take SPL (68%) say that financial implications are the main factor for refusing it and 40% of men who could take the leave feel their employer wouldn’t be likely to support their request for time off. This implies that either the gender pay gap is still an issue, driving men with higher salaries to return to work, or that many workplaces still don’t have parenting packages that equally benefit men.
Over seventy per cent (72%) of men surveyed said that creating a strong early bond with their child would be their top motivator to take SPL and 76% of men who are considering having a child say they will take this leave.
BAM – Being A Man festival runs from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 November and brings together men from across the UK to explore and challenge the pressures and perceptions of masculine identity in the 21st century. Headline acts include Sir Roger Moore, Ashley Walters (Top Boy), Grayson Perry, Christopher Eccleston (Dr Who), Professor Green, Scottee, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), The Last Poets, Aaron Gillies, Jon Holmes, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler. The panels and workshops cover such key issues as pornography, depression, video games, education, and of course dad dancing.
The survey was conducted by Bluegrass Research for BAM – Being A Man festival and was commissioned following a report by My Family Care this year claiming that as few as 1% of men take the option to share up to 50 weeks of parental leave with their partner, upon the birth or adoption of a child.
Johnny Davis, journalist and BAM panellist, said: “As well as outdated cultural reasons why men see taking time off work as frowned-upon or career-limiting, something women have faced for decades, there’s a big problem with the way Shared Parental Leave has been set up in the UK. Men still tend to be the higher-earning partner and face a financial penalty for being off work and SPL still runs as maternity leave by default – it’s up to the mother to give this right to the father, which is often perceived as the mother’s loss. For dads who do take time off work to spend time with their new baby, the environment can be daunting – a whole economy of baby yoga classes, sing-a-longs, and café drop-ins has grown up, theoretically open to men, but frequented by few. We need to create an environment where men feel welcome and engaged with other new parents.”
Jude Kelly CBE, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre, said: “It’s concerning to see so many men worried about taking this really important time with their young families and highlights, more than ever, how crucially we need greater dialogue around the difficult issues facing men and women today. Southbank Centre’s Being A Man festival set out to foster this conversation three years ago, and in that time we’ve seen men highlight issues such as as religious extremism, gang culture, promiscuity, depression, and fashion, better depicting what it really means to be a man in the 21st century.
“The transformation that men go through when becoming fathers and how society reacts to our changing concept of fatherhood will be focal points of BAM this year – issues that aren’t only relevant for men themselves, but also their partners, daughters, and sons.”
Readers are encouraged to attend BAM- Being A Man festival at Southbank Centre and participate in the conversation on modern masculinity, particularly the panel ‘The Paternity Debate’ (25 November, 12pm) exploring the findings from the BAM Shared Parental Leave Survey and the reasons behind them. Panelists include Maria Miller MP, Conservative Party politician and Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee; Jack Urwin, journalist and author of Man Up: Surviving Modern Masculinity; Johnny Davis, deputy editor of Esquire who has written about taking paternity leave; and Yomi Sode, poet, performer and creator of Daddy Diaries.
About Southbank Centre’s BAM Shared Parental Leave Survey
The research methodology used an online survey with a UK audience sourced via Research Now, a panel provider. The sample was all men, all employees (so eligible for SPL), aged between 18-50, all parents since April 2015 or planning to be in the next five years, and inclusive of ethnic minority backgrounds. The sample size was 503 interviews conducted with respondents living in locations across UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The data was weighted by country and socio-economics to achieve a representative sample of men aged 18-50.
