On March 19, MenCare Croatia celebrated Father’s Day in the main square of Čakovec, Croatia with activities that profiled the importance of involved fatherhood and gender equality. MenCare Croatia’s SuperTata (“SuperDad”) campaign emphasizes that true gender equality can only be achieved when men are involved not as helpers but as equal partners in childcare and domestic work.
MenCare Croatia invited fathers and their families to take photographs with messages that highlighted involved, equitable, and nonviolent fatherhood. Posters throughout the square advertised how fathers’ involvement in caregiving can improve maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes; foster more equitable relations between partners; and reduce domestic violence.
In photographs, fathers held messages that they felt best represented them as parents and equal partners. These messages included: “I have my own apron”; “I raise by example, not by violence”; “I am an expert in ironing”; and “I am not ashamed to show tenderness.”
Furthermore, by writing their own messages, children were given the opportunity to share how they felt about their fathers and what their fathers’ love and support means to them.
Through the event, MenCare Croatia’s goal was to raise awareness in the local community about the current SuperDad campaign and its group sessions with fathers, future fathers, and their partners. MenCare partner Youth Organization: Status M founded and leads the MenCare campaign in Croatia’s Međimurje County, in partnership with the Institute of Public Health, Međimurje County and the Center for Social Welfare and Family, Center Čakovec.
With over 50 volunteers involved in the project and over 100 workshop beneficiaries, the campaign’s impact on the local community is substantial and continues to grow.
See more photos from the Father’s Day event below:
