Tostan [to 30 January 2016]
http://www.tostan.org/latest-news

.
January 27, 2016
Challenging Gender Roles through Engaged Fatherhood
Many studies have shown that the involvement of men in early childhood development (ECD) is extremely beneficial to a child’s social, emotional and cognitive growth. Fathers who are involved and playful with their infants have children with higher IQs, improved linguistic abilities, greater capacity for empathy, decreased gender stereotypes, and are all-round better prepared to succeed in school.

In Senegal, strict ideas around gender roles and gendered divisions of labor have meant that for a long time, raising children has been exclusively considered women’s work. Men, on the other hand, are thought of primarily as providers for the family and ready disciplinarians. As “head of the household,” it’s not uncommon for a man to make decisions without consulting the rest of the family, maintain distance from his young children and have little involvement in their education.

However, Tostan’s Reinforcement of Parental Practices (RPP) program is calling into question these very practices with remarkable results…