By Tyler Wright
When Upwey father-of-one Heath Pawley picks up his three-and-a-half-year-old son from childcare, he noticed a pretty equal amount of mothers and fathers.
“It is a really even split a lot of the time – at least at ours it is – and I think that’s really great,” Heath said.
As part of a reference group of dads and carers in the Yarra Ranges, Heath contributed to designs, messaging and concepts for the new ‘Men as Carers’ poster series.
The project from Yarra Ranges Council and the Eastern Domestic Violence Outreach Service (EDVOS), shows men in the community in caregiving roles including picking up their children from daycare, cleaning the house and tending to animals.
“What I found was really rewarding with that was that often we’d get together have a discussion, and it was really led by where we saw a need as the male caregivers,” Heath said.
“It wasn’t people com[ing] to us with an idea and that gets pushed, it was more like ‘what are your ideas?’ ‘what are your experiences?, and council were really good at engaging with us to really bring that to life.”
Images of local men caring for their children, including Heath and three and a half year old son Elliot, have been made into posters and social media tiles which will soon appear in preschools, Maternal and Child Health offices and community venues.
Heath said men taking a caring and hands-on approach in raising their children is becoming normalised, but there are still barriers for men looking to spend more time with their kids.
“I think some of the challenges still come in with the workplace and the flexibility around working arrangements,” Heath said.
“With the pandemic and everything that has shifted some, but there’s definitely a recognition that it hasn’t shifted for everyone, and in some ways, it’s shifted back the other way.
“People have long site hours or shift work and those types of things…they may have had to rely on on a partner to care for their child because work has been going crazy for them, whereas others like myself [are] lucky enough to have normalised working from home conditions, giving us back these extra hours in the day, making it easier for us to get involved in the day to day care of our kids.”
Yarra Ranges Mayor Councillor Jim Child said the community has made progress in “unpacking old ideas and outdated stereotypes of men and dads as hyper-masculine and unemotional, which we know has a negative impact on body image, on mental health and on family dynamics”.
“We know that men and dads can be caring, vulnerable and fun – they have a role to play in teaching, shaping and supporting children,” Jim said.
“Every family looks different – some have no dads, while some have more than one. But we know that, traditionally, there hasn’t been much media showing men as caring, empathetic or vulnerable.
“The posters are a celebration of fathers and men in caring roles, and a reminder that taking on caring roles, finding time for activities and embracing vulnerability is good for men’s mental health, identity and, of course, their family lives.”
The ‘Men as Carers’ project follows the ‘You Can’t Be What You Can’t See’ poster series, showing Yarra Ranges residents of all genders in diverse career and recreation roles.
The posters were used in preschools, early learning facilities and and schools, encouraging children to do and be what they want regardless of gender.
To learn more about the ‘Men as Carers’ postert series, visit https://www.levelplayground.org.au/ourresources/
