Engaging Men in Nurturing Care (EMiNC) 

Engaging Men in Nurturing Care (EMiNC) is promoting gender equality among caregivers engaged in nurturing care to ensure a balanced and healthy environment for children to thrive. We want to see a society where men and women are equally respected as parents, and where caregiving is valued and shared equally.

Why It Matters

Currently, there's a gender gap in caregiving in Europe. Women spend more time on unpaid caregiving than men, and most early childhood educators are women who are paid less than men. Existing parental and paternal leave policies are unevenly addressing the needs and equal rights of caregivers. These and other elements altogether perpetuate harmful stereotypes and, moreover, negatively impact the efforts to prevent violence against women and children.

Our Initiative

Our initiative, called "Engaging Men in Nurturing Care" (EMiNC), began in March 2023. We partner with organizations in Italy, Portugal, and Spain. We work on two levels: EU-wide narrative changes and city-level championing. We want to encourage positive masculinity, involve fathers in caregiving, and promote gender equality in supporting child’s development.

How We Work

EMiNC builds on existing and collects new evidence on men's involvement in caregiving, and forms partnerships and alliances at city, country, and European level. We aim for changes in the home, early childhood services and community environments by equipping and empowering early childhood workers across sectors, fathers and fathers to be and key members of the community, in their respective key roles to promote gender equity. In the long term, we aim to influence policies at the national and EU levels to promote gender equality in caregiving and father involvement in early childhood.

By supporting EMiNC, you're helping create a more equal and nurturing society for all children, regardless of their age, gender, background, or economic status. Together, we can make a difference.

The Consortium

ISSA works alongside the Observatory of Masculinities – Center of Social Studies (CES) in Portugal, Centro per la Salute del Bambino - Centre for Child Health (CSB) in Italy, CONEXUS and the Barcelona City Council, Office for Feminism and LGBTI Affairs in Spain.