Methodology

The project relied on dyadic interviews with heterosexual couples raising young children (under the age of 8) and living together in Cyprus, and follow-up individual interviews with the fathers. Through these interviews, the project explored fathers’ shifting practices within and beyond the family context, their involvement in everyday family life, their relationships with their partner and children, and their perspectives on gender and sexual equality.

Employing a multi-layered approach, the project examined fatherhood as a set of practices, a life-course stage, and a part of men’s identities. Further, it explored whether, and in what ways, men and masculinities are changing, as well as the social and cultural conditions that either enable or constrain such change.

The project also drew on secondary data from European and International social surveys to analyze attitudes towards gender, family life, parenthood, and related domains to develop a critical understanding of whether, and in what ways, men and their practices are changing.

The project was funded by the Start-Up Research Scheme of the University of Cyprus.