Old Obstacles in Mexico Hinder the New Concept of Fatherhood Agencia EFE
go to original June 18, 2017

Women fight back against Mexican machismo (BBC/Latest News Online)

Mexico, which celebrated Father’s Day this Sunday, is more and more open to the new roles that fathers must play in the family – but the machismo, the wage gap and the lack of specific policies are slowing its development, the co-author of the “Report on the State of Paternity in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017” told EFE.

Francisco Aguayo, co-author of the report put out by Promundo, IPPF, Culture Health/EME, MenEngage Latin America and Mexfam, said that men discuss more and more their role in the home and in bringing up children, but in practice do much less in the way of household tasks and caring for the kids.

“Latin America is a long way from sharing the responsibility of bringing up children,” Aguayo said, adding that in Mexico, women perform the tasks of child rearing and looking after the home 2.8 times more than men.

Only 14 percent of fathers engage in activities to encourage learning, compared with 62 percent of women, according to the 2016 national survey of children and women.

“Latin American machismo resists change. In Latin America, half the women with families stay home to take care of the household and the youngsters. Just 3 percent of men have quit their jobs to look after someone at home,” Aguayo said.

The UNICEF representative in Mexico, Christian Skoog, told EFE that it is essential “to balance the responsibilities and break with the gender and cultural customs,” because hanging onto these stereotypes stops societies from acquiring “the balance they need to grow culturally, socially and economically.”

According to a study by the Social Research Institute, 0.5 percent of families are based on same-sex relationships, of which 75 percent are male couples.

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

Related: Father’s Day 2017: All the Memes You Need to See (Heavy)

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