Fathers Pride

Fathers' Pride

We are all dealing with the same problems and fighting for our children's right to be with and freely love both parents. Unfortunately, most of us have to work in secret, confined to our own country, city or even our home. Standing up for fathers' rights today seems to be a straight to prison path rather than one to contact with one's child.

The United Nations recently declared family to be „the smallest democracy at the heart of society". In most countries this statement could not be further form the truth – while gender equality in public sphere has been talked about and pretty much achieved, home has been forgotten and left in tatters. While feminists did no favours to anyone and mothers complained about double burden for ages, something strange is happening as fathers are trying to realise their rights within family.
Gender issues these days have come to mean women's issues.

The problems fathers and children face only become apparent during and after divorce. All the secrets that hide behind closed family doors and inside family courts need to come out into the open. Family door has to be opened to individual human rights and gender equality.

In order to achieve this I believe that the idea of father's rights requires a global stage. Women fought a long time to get to where they are today – no woman would ever end up in prison today for actively standing up for her rights or against domestic violence. Fathers need to take their fight, for themselves and for their children, to the next level.

Our friends in Italy are organising their second annual Daddy's Pride www.daddyspride.it and this could be a perfect opportunity to create a global platform for our fight. I would suggest that we look into possibilites of organising similar gatherings in our countries/cities on the same day, 16 March 2008.

Together we can do a lot more.

Keep up the fight!

ps Balkan fathers' network is celebrating World Day against Child Abuse (19 November) with a joint campaign.