Men Who Care: A multi country qualitative study of men in non traditional care giving roles

What hinders men's involvement in care work? What encourages it? Who are the men who are doing more than the average and are taking on care work as a key part of their lives? How do men understand and describe their participation in activities that traditionally seen as female roles, both in the home and in the work setting?
The “Men Who Care” study is a five-country qualitative study in Brazil, Chile, India, Mexico and South Africa. It  explores these issues by listening to men who are involved in non-traditional forms of care work in the family and professional realms. Findings include:

• In most cases care work at the family level and at the professional level seemed to be thrust upon men by life circumstances rather than as an issue of individual choice.
• Early childhood experiences worked in multiple and sometimes contrary directions in terms of how they influenced men's caregiving practices.
• The quality and nature of men's relationships with partners (particularly the mothers of their children) greatly affected to what extent men participated in care work in the household.
• Many men who carried out care work sought to give it a traditional masculine meaning or make it fit within their self-image as traditional or hegemonic men.
• Men's satisfaction with care work (either as a profession or in the home setting) was varied; some men described great satisfaction derived from care work while others said they felt incomplete, depressed or undervalued.