The early years of a child’s life are a crucial period for brain development, emotional regulation, and social well-being. Yet despite strong evidence of their importance, early childhood development remains insufficiently recognised and prioritised in public discourse and policy. Public awareness of this critical period and of the roles that different caregivers play, also remains limited. Within this already under-addressed domain, one key actor is still too often overlooked in both policy frameworks and service delivery systems: the father.
Despite overwhelming evidence that father involvement from pregnancy leads to better outcomes for children, mothers, and fathers themselves, fatherhood remains an underutilised asset in early childhood development (ECD) policy. This needs to change, urgently.
Fathers’ early engagement has been shown to improve children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development, reduce maternal stress, and strengthen family relationships. The State of Southern European Fathers 2024 report (SOSEF) developed under the Engaging Men in Nurturing Care (EMiNC) initiative, reveals that engaged fatherhood enhances gender equity and overall well-being but that structural and cultural barriers persist across the three countries participating in the survey – Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
In fact, while 74% of fathers surveyed believe they share care equally with their partners, only 51% of mothers agree. This perception gap speaks to deeper societal dynamics that continue to place caregiving expectations predominantly on women. Policies often reinforce this, offering mothers longer paid leave and framing early years services around mother-child dyad.
Policy has a role and a responsibility
Despite the EU Work-Life Balance Directive (2019), fathers’ leave uptake remains low in many countries due to inadequate pay, stigma, or lack of support from employers. Over 50% of fathers in the SOSEF survey cited the need to keep working due to cultural and financial reasons as the primary reason for not taking parental leave. Until paid leave for fathers is adequately compensated, universally accessible, and socially accepted, policy will continue to lag behind realities of families.
The State of Southern European Fathers 2024 report underscores how inadequate and unequal parental leave policies, inflexible work arrangements, and financial disincentives continue to block fathers’ full participation. More than half of the fathers surveyed cited the need to keep working as the main reason for not taking full leave entitlements, and 51% said leave was not adequately paid. These conditions reinforce traditional roles leaving mothers overburdened, fathers under-engaged, and children missing on gender-balanced care.
While there is still a long way to go, promising policy reforms are beginning to shift the overall picture:
- In Spain, recent reforms have introduced equal, non-transferable paid parental leave for both parents, an important milestone in promoting shared caregiving. Uptake by fathers has grown since 2019, although persistent workplace stigma and financial pressures remain. The Spanish example shows that policy change is necessary, but not sufficient. It must be accompanied by a culture change in both public discourse and professional practices.
- In Portugal, strong policy frameworks now support full wage replacement for parts of parental leave, helping reduce financial barriers for fathers. Yet uptake remains uneven, and many workplaces continue to view caregiving primarily as a maternal role. The Portuguese experience shows that even progressive leave policies require aligned and supportive implementation mechanisms and consistent engagement with frontline professionals to shift institutional norms.
- In Italy, recent developments in parental leave policy have included increased flexibility and the introduction of mandatory paternity leave days. However, uptake is still low, and workplace culture -along with persistent gender norms – continues to discourage men to fully participating in caregiving. The Italian case highlights that in addition to improving policy access, targeted efforts are needed to transform workplace expectations and create enabling conditions for men to take on caregiving roles without penalty.
Engaging fathers in caregiving requires more than isolated interventions; it demands systemic integration across policy domains. Caregiving should be embedded in institutional frameworks – spanning health, education, and labour – so that father involvement becomes a normalised, supported behaviour rather than an exception. Masculinities are not only cultural constructs but are shaped by the design and functioning of public (and private) systems. When policies such as parental leave are well-paid, non-transferable, and reinforced by workplace norms and service delivery practices that include men, they help shift societal expectations around caregiving. Sustainable change emerges when fathers are treated not as peripheral beneficiaries but as active participants in shaping family wellbeing through sharing care responsibilities, and when policy frameworks reflect this by aligning messaging, infrastructure, and accountability mechanisms accordingly.
Ultimately, enabling fathers to be present and engaged from the start requires more than isolated policy changes – it calls for an integrated approach that connects legislative reform, institutional transformation, and community-level engagement.
Evidence from practice shows that well-designed fatherhood programs across Europe are helping to dismantle persistent barriers to men’s engagement in early caregiving. Through targeted training for health, social, and early childhood professionals, these programs are shifting practices to more intentionally involve fathers from pregnancy through the early years. They promote inclusive approaches that reflect on gender biases, encourage hands-on involvement, and provide peer support for fathers navigating their caregiving roles. As a result, participating fathers report feeling more confident, emotionally connected, and actively engaged in their children’s development. These locally grounded efforts demonstrate that with the right support, services can foster shared caregiving from the start, contributing to more equitable family dynamics and healthier developmental outcomes for children.
Promoting nurturing care as a shared responsibility is not only a matter of fairness but one of effectiveness. When policies and systems are designed to support fathers in caregiving roles from the very beginning, the benefits are far-reaching: children thrive, mothers experience greater support and well-being, fathers develop stronger bonds and a deeper sense of purpose, and society moves closer to genuine gender equality. If ECD policy is to deliver on its promise of giving every child the best start in life, then fatherhood from pregnancy must be recognized not as an optional extra, but as a critical piece of the promise.
