I was pleased to support the University of York and University of Birmingham’s Equal Parenting Project and Music Football Fatherhood awards event last week to recognise and promote the role of fathers in driving gender equality in the workplace.
By supporting parents, employers can aid working families, attract and retain top talent, reduce pay inequalities and alleviate the motherhood penalty. The awards, not only celebrate current employers, but give companies the opportunity to further break down the gendered barriers to child-caring in order to promote gender equality in the workplace, encourage more women onto boards and enhance the wellbeing of families.
The Parental Policies Award, presented to QBE, Suffolk County Council, Vodafone UK and E.ON UK, celebrates organisations who excel in enhancing their parenting policies and encouraging fathers to use these policies.
The Flexible Working Award, presented to E.ON UK, celebrates organisations that are not simply ticking the box when they talk about or implement flexible working but rather see flexible working as central to what they do and the default in their business and are striving to make this accessible to working dads.
The Support for Returning Dads Award, presented to PwC UK LLP and Vodafone UK, celebrates the importance of actively managing fathers transition back into the workplace after long periods of caring leave to help them manage work-life balance and keep their careers on track.
The Leadership and Culture Award, presented to the British Medical Journal, John Lewis Partnership and Aon UK, recognises supportive workplace culture with broad leadership teams committed to supporting dads at work and challenging cultural expectations that only mothers can engage in childcare.
These awards will lead to case studies of best practice in helping working dads which will be made available to help employers, from SMEs to multinationals across the UK, to reflect upon and improve their support for fathers in the workplace.
Over the past seven years the Equal Parenting Project research team at the University of Birmingham and University of York led by Dr Holly Birkett and Dr Sarah Forbes, has conducted extensive research on fathers in the workplace as well as flexible working usage and intentions among managers and employees since COVID-19. This has significantly informed employer practise and policy decisions promoting gender equality in the workplace.
Elliott Rae, speaker, broadcaster, author and founder of Music Football Fatherhood has worked with organisations over the past few years to help them support their working dads, redefine ideas around masculinity and create safe spaces for culture shifting conversations. Elliott’s powerful keynotes and workshops have been fundamental in helping to break down stereotypes around gender roles in parenting.
These awards have been made possible by the involvement of partners including Business in the Community, Working Families, CIPD, Global Equality Collective, Pregnant and Screwed, Fatherhood Institute, Future Men and Women’s Medical Foundation.
Elliott Rae from Music Football Fatherhood said: "It is amazing to see employers supporting dads and helping them to be active parents at home. Our government statutory paternity leave is amongst the worst in Europe, so businesses leading the way and offering these enhancements to fathers is great to see. We know how important supporting working dads to be active parents is to the mental health and wellbeing of families, gender equity at work and in the home and to the healthy development of children. So a big well done to all of the employers who are helping dads to parent loudly and proudly!"
Andrew Gwynne MP and Chair of the Fatherhood APPG said: "As a longstanding champion of fathers in the workplace, I'm delighted to be hosting the Working Dads Employer Awards again, which were such a massive success last year. There are employers both big and small doing some incredible work in developing policies that empower active fatherhood and equal parenting. It's only right that they are celebrated, both to recognise the positive change they are making and to incentivise others to do the same."
