#FamilyTeamWork
Did you know that in the EU, on average almost all employed women (94 %) are involved in at least one unpaid care work activity at least several times a week, compared with 70 % of employed men? The most unequally shared tasks remain housework tasks, with 93 % of women and 53 % of men regularly undertaking such work.
Because behind these statistics, hide more dire realities: parental burnout, gender pay gap, pension gap, harmful stereotypes, and their transmission to the next generation. And COFACE Families Europe has been pushing for these realities to be recognised and addressed in policy-making for decades. But on the International Day of Families 2022, COFACE Families Europe wants to trigger the change at the societal level by addressing the main protagonists of the change: family members!
The ICA is a proud member of COFACE, a network promoting the well-being, health and security of families and their members in a changing society. COFACE also serves as a trusted entity for family mainstreaming and for the voice and needs of families in Europe and beyond.
This year, the ICA joins COFACE in marking the International Day of Families 2022, it being on 15th of May.
The theme of this year’s campaign is #FamilyTeamWork, run by COFACE in collaboration with Men Engage Eastern Europe & Central Asia – a UNFPA-led platform, and it calls on parents and children, grand-parents, and all societal stakeholders, to start a conversation about sharing care and household tasks, and team up against stereotypical roles within families. No matter the make-up of a family, a family is a team. Each person plays a unique role in the structure and function of their family, and each individual’s strengths and personality contribute to the family well-being.
To mark the campaign, we are inviting ICA Guilds and members to organize events that encompasses your families! This may happen in May or June and may give an opportunity to bring together your families – a nature walk, a social gathering, afternoon tea or a picnic are just ideas of what could work. Let us know what your plans are, and we will communicate this back to the COFACE’s network.
It is important to talk about and implement more equal distribution of unpaid work with the notion that, no matter the composition of their family, a family is a team and should aim to work together for the sake of every member’s time and wellbeing!
COFACE has produced a range of engaging and fun resources, which are available onhttps://coface-eu.org/familyteamwork/. There are resources useful for creating activities, such as Bingo cards for starting a conversation about the topic, and planners to help the participants to write down the new version of their #FamilyTeamWork plan.
Engaging in this campaign it means to support all type of families, to deconstruct stereotypes and prejudices around them and it means to shine a light on the burden that women carry on when it comes about families: 92% of them in the 🇪🇺 are in charge of the care tasks of their families.
Let’s talk and implement more equal distribution of unpaid work with the notion that, no matter the composition of their family, a family is a team and should aim to work together for the sake of every member’s time and wellbeing! Check the #FamilyTeamWork Campaign page on COFACE Families Europe website to access all the resources and for more background about the campaign.
To find more about COFACE’s work, visit COFACE.