The State of Southern European Fathers (SoSEF) 2024 Policy Brief, developed under the Engaging Men in Nurturing Care initiative, shows that while fathers in Italy, Spain, and Portugal increasingly want to share caregiving responsibilities from their children’s earliest years, real equality in care remains limited. Despite reforms aligned with EU frameworks such as the Work-Life Balance Directive and Barcelona childcare targets, fathers’ involvement is still constrained by low wage replacement for parental leave, limited childcare access, workplace stigma, and persistent cultural expectations that position mothers as primary caregivers.

The brief calls for translating policy intent into practice through stronger national ambition and coordinated EU action. Key recommendations include improving paid leave for fathers, expanding affordable childcare—especially in underserved regions—and redesigning early childhood services to actively include fathers. As the EU prepares its Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030, SoSEF urges policymakers to make shared caregiving from the start a political, economic, and cultural priority, so that fathers’ readiness to care becomes a supported reality across Southern Europe