Research tell us diversity is good for business, but gender equality in the work place still needs more focus, particularly when it come to working dads.

This event, sponsored & hosted by Lloyds Banking Group, will provide a chance to learn how to create a culture where both fathers and mothers can take leave and use family-friendly policies.

This will kick-start Fathers Network Scotland's campaign to enable employers to "Dad Up" by supporting dads to take leave and work flexibly. 

With leading research from University of Manchester, Lancaster University, and University of Plymouth attendees will be able to: 

This event is targeted at:

• Helen Norman (University of Manchester) - how workplaces and work-family policy influence dads' involvement at home
• Ben Kerrane (Lancaster University School of Management) - how to support employees taking shared parental leave
• Jasmine Kelland (University of Plymouth) - Fatherhood Forfeits - part-time working for fathers 
• Martin Doyle (lloyds Banking Group Family Matters Network) - The reality of being a working dad 

There will be an opportunity for audience discussion and networking. 

Finish at 12.30pm 

To register your interest please RSVP below. Due to security you will not gain entrance to The Mound without registering for this event. Registration will close Friday 17th June 2017. 

Speakers additional information

Dr Helen Norman is a Research Fellow in Sociology at the University of Manchester. Her research interests focus on fathers and fatherhood, the gendered division of labour and gender inequalities in work and family life. Helen will be sharing the early findings from her project exploring what makes fathers involved in their children’s care. The project looks at how employment characteristics (e.g. hours, schedules) enable or hinder a father’s involvement in childcare, and whether the way that parents organise their work and childcare arrangements in the first year of the child’s life influence paternal involvement as the child grows older. In her talk, Helen also considers how effective work-family policies in the UK – such as Shared Parental Leave, flexible working and childcare services - have been in helping fathers (and mothers) to strike a satisfactory balance between work and care.

Dr Ben Kerrane is Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University Management School. His research interests revolve around family life, and he has undertaken research (with Dr Emma Banister, Alliance Manchester Business School) on the introduction of Shared Parental Leave (SPL) in the UK. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a series of fathers who have taken Shared Parental Leave, this presentation will focus on the lived experiences of SPL parents, their motivations for taking SPL and the barriers they encountered in utilising SPL. Advice will be offered to employers in terms of the practical things organisations can do – as advocated by SPL parents themselves - to help support those who wish to apply for SPL.

Jasmine Kelland is presenting the findings of her PhD at Plymouth University which explores the impact of gender role stereotyping of parents in the workplace.The findings point to the existence of a 'Fatherhood Forfeit"  for fathers who behave in a way that is not congruent with more traditional parental gender role stereotypes by wanting to work fewer hours to facilitate active involvement in family life. Support for the existing literature - which purports the existence of a "Motherhood Penalty” for mothers who act contrary to such parental gender role stereotypes by working full time - has also been found in the initial analysis.