Caregiver Stories started as a small collection of video stories highlighting the realities of male caregivers in the US which aimed to address two major concerns when it comes to gender, equity, and caregiving: Caregiving is highly gendered: across the world, women do at least three times more unpaid care and domestic work than men; and this cycle is perpetuated by popular media narratives that are rooted in restrictive stereotypes.
We know from numerous studies – because they are influenced by care-related norms around them – that boys learn to care by seeing it, so the absence of visual depictions of male caregiving negatively impacts and limits boys.
“We lost our mom when I was very young, but my father took care of us… I learnt the ethic of care from him – how he always made sure that there was food on the table, made sure my clothes were clean… Learning from my father all of that has left an impression on me that I also have to do the same, and I’m doing it with my kids.”
We know that men care and provide care, and in order to break media stereotypes to inspire and influence men’s and boys’ commitment to equal participation in care, this project focuses on normalizing and highlighting positive, equitable, and healthy examples of male caregiving – from fatherhood to friendship and more – and telling inclusive, representative and authentic stories of a range of male caregivers: your stories.
