However, this transition faces economic and structural obstacles. During economic downturns, men experience strong \u201cprovider shame\u201d when they cannot meet financial expectations. Additionally, existing policies and public advocacy strategies often rely on outdated language, which can distance men who are ready to take an active caregiving role at home.<\/p>\n
Presence over provision: A changing mindset<\/h3>\n
For generations, societal expectations linked a father\u2019s value directly to his financial output. Today, more Nigerian men want deeper emotional connections with their children.\n<\/p>\n
When financial security drops, the emotional burden remains significant. Linking identity strictly to income creates psychological pressure that can lead to isolation.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime I\u2019m not able to provide, I\u2019m uncomfortable; I don\u2019t even want to be around anybody,\u201d said a male business leader who participated in the study.\n<\/p>\n
Changing this rigid view of fatherhood requires intentional effort and personal reflection.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI was judging myself by that, judging my manhood or masculinity by my ability to provide. And I had to let go of that\u2026 I had a savior complex,\u201d according to a local religious leader.<\/p>\n
Read also:\u00a061% of students believe AI will create more career opportunities than it eliminates \u2013 Report<\/a>\n<\/p>\n A key finding of the Gatefield report is that advocacy language strongly affects male engagement. The study shows that confrontational or rights-focused phrasing, such as \u201cdismantling the motherhood penalty\u201d or \u201cunpaid care work\u201d, caused a sixfold increase in defensiveness among men.\n<\/p>\n In contrast, framing shared caregiving around household peace and economic stability was nearly five times more persuasive, increasing message acceptance by over 70 percent. When messaging focused on overall family well-being, supportive responses outnumbered pushback by seven to one.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe way men function is you have to sell a vision to them,\u201d explained a religious leader in the study. \u201cIf they see that this is about making your family thrive and flourish, I think they will buy into it more.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Cultural and religious leaders are central to communicating this message effectively. Bukola, a representative from Gatefield, noted that normalizing active fatherhood requires gatekeepers to help shift cultural expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis requires decoupling self-worth from economic output and shifting \u2018spiritual authority\u2019 and leadership from dominant authority to sacrificial partnership, redefining leadership through shared responsibility and emotional presence,\u201d Bukola stated.\n<\/p>\n While male attitudes are evolving, systemic challenges remain. A father\u2019s ability to participate in caregiving often depends on his employment structure and income level.\n<\/p>\n In Nigeria\u2019s public sector, male employees receive 14 days of paid paternity leave. However, the 80 percent of Nigerians working in the informal economy face direct income loss if they take time off to care for a child.\n<\/p>\n Additionally, dual-income middle-class families often manage daily caregiving by hiring domestic help, an option low-income families cannot afford.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to outsource whatever needs to be outsourced. We don\u2019t need to be the ones doing it outright\u2026 we\u2019ve outsourced pretty much all our domestic chores, so we don\u2019t do house chores,\u201d noted one working father.<\/p>\n This gap highlights a clear class divide, leaving low-income fathers without formal leave protections or affordable domestic support options.\n<\/p>\n To translate these behavioral changes, into broader societal impact, Gatefield recommends several policy and structural reforms such as shifting public advocacy away from polarizing language to focus on child development, household harmony, and economic resilience, expand paid paternity leave, engage faith leaders\u00a0 and build community support systems.\n<\/p>\n By aligning policy frameworks and public messaging with the intentions of modern fathers, Nigeria can strengthen family structures and foster sustainable economic development.<\/p>\n Ngozi Ekugo holds an MSc in Management from the University of Hertfordshire. She is also an alumna of University of Lagos, Queen\u2019s College, and an Associate Member of CIPM. Her experience includes a brief exposure in the Human Capital Management division of Goldman Sachs in London. She draws on her cross-sector experience to cover employment trends, career opportunities and international mobility.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Source: <\/p>\n Modern Nigerian men increasingly see their role not just as financial providers, but as emotionally present, hands-on caregivers from infancy through early childhood. This is changing traditional views on masculinity,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Selling a shared vision<\/h3>\n
Structural gaps and economic limits<\/h3>\n
Paternity leave, other reforms<\/h3>\n
Related News<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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