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“Daddy, Be Active!” – an awareness-raising campaign

January 27th 2007
last updated January 27th 2007

“Daddy, Be Active!” - an awareness-raising campaign

Office for Equal Opportunities, Government of the Republic of Slovenia


The main objectives of the project were:

• to map the existing perception of fatherhood in Slovenia, namely the influence of paternity leave on active fatherhood;
• to encourage fathers for taking paternity leave and promote active fatherhood;
• to promote the work-life balanced organizational culture and its benefits for employers and employed med and women;
• to overcome the existing gender stereotypes and cultural barriers concerning active fatherhood.

Methods and results

The project has been implemented through:

• the research “Prospects of new fatherhood in Slovenia: the influence of paternity leave on active fatherhood” (2005)
• the awareness-raising campaign:

• TV spot “Daddy, Be Active!” (2005)
• Radio spot and radio shows on active fatherhood (2006) Listen
• Educational documentary film on active fatherhood (2006)

The awareness-raising

The awareness-raising campaign under the slogan “Daddy, Be Active!” aimed to promote a positive image and an active role of fathers in family life, to inform on the right to paternity leave and to tackle gender stereotypes on the role of men and women in family life.

The main goals of the campaign were:

• to encourage fathers and potential fathers for greater participation in childcare and upbringing, with increasing awareness on a positive influence of active fatherhood to the development of children and generally on family/partnership life;
• to emphasize the benefits of reconciled professional and family/private life for all, employers and employed women and men;
• to inform and educate key target groups – fathers/mothers and future parents, professionals, employers, the media etc. - on positive aspects of active fatherhood

TV spot “Daddy, Be Active!”

The TV spot/advertisement “Daddy, be active!” was broadcasted on the national television, during the sport events (football, handball and alpine skiing) and in the prime time, during the main evening news.

The primary target group was men, who are already fathers and men, who are planning a family. In the secondary target group were mothers/partners, who shall encourage men to be more active in childcare, the employers, who shall ensure parents to reconcile their professional and family life, and a general public, where the traditional gender roles have to be uprooted.

View the TV-spot

Radio spot and radio shows on active fatherhood

Five thematic radio shows, dealing with different aspects of fatherhood, were prepared and broadcasted on 14 radio stations, regionally covering the entire Slovenia. Radio shows covered the following topics:

• active fatherhood begins before the birth of a child listen
  
• paternity and parental rights listen
  
• employment and fatherhood/parenthood listen
  
• psychological aspect of active fatherhood listen
  
• mother’s view on active fatherhood listen
  

Radio shows were supported by the radio spot/advertisement with a slogan “Daddy, be active!”, demonstrating lively interaction between a father and a baby.

Educational documentary film on active fatherhood

The film presents different views on active fatherhood through the story of a future father, a known Slovenian actor. The film is multilayered – it takes us into the experiences of family relationship father-child(ren), professional relationship father–employment and it discovers dilemmas of fathers and their expectations. The story is supported by the opinions of different experts, the children’s views on fatherhood and the information on the legal rights of fathers.

The awareness-raising campaign had a very positive feedback and many fathers are looking for further information on paternity leave and other rights in our office and are also sharing their experiences with us. Just like employed mothers, also employed fathers are facing certain obstacles at their workplace when they want to use the right to paternity leave or share childcare leave with their partners, for example disapproval by employers, difficulties in arranging more flexible working time etc. Since the share of fathers on paternity leave is increasing, the future raising awareness activities will have to be oriented more towards employers. And additionally, towards both parents, to encourage them to share the childcare leave.

 

 

 

Eberhard Schaefer, MA

Iva Šmídová, Ph.D.

Lukas Sedlacek

Svend Aage Madsen, Ph.D. (Head of project)

Tina Juhl

 

 

 

With support from the European Community - Programme relating to the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2006).The information contained in this website does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission.