Workshop on responsible fatherhood.

The roles and responsibilities of Latin American fathers to their children were discussed at a 1993 workshop sponsored by the Population Council and the Program on Studies of Gender at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. The social construction of masculinity in Latin America has impeded the valuation of noneconomic fathering roles such as guiding and nurturing children. Moreover the potential role of fathers has been neglected in social service and early childhood programs. An increased focus on fathers can be justified on the basis of economic benefits social equity and childrens rights concerns and program effectiveness arguments. Fatherhood must be reshaped flexibly and broadly with avoidance of models that dictate a single way for all men to parent. Workshop participants urged that questions about fathering be added to ongoing surveys and that existing nongovernmental and governmental programs be evaluated from the perspective of the role of fathers. Such evaluations should include attention to direct work with men on masculinity and sex roles direct work with women and the positions of fathers in terms of health care education business legal and political systems mass media and communications and social welfare programs. Workshop participants reached consensus on the following points: 1) responsible fatherhood programs should seek to reinforce existing positive patterns before instituting new ideas; 2) social marketing techniques and community participation should be used to change attitudes toward and perceptions of fathers; 3) enhanced understanding of the concept of masculinity and ways this contributes to or interferes with nurturant fathering should be sought; 4) there is a need for programs to work directly with fathers around maltreatment of children and women; and 5) fatherhood should be viewed as embedded within a context of deeply rooted gender and power relationships.