Equal Parenting Week

Equal Parenting Week 2026: thank you

The first ever Equal Parenting Week happened from Monday 27 April to Sunday 3 May 2026. Over the seven days, dads, parents, employers, policymakers and partners came together to challenge outdated gender roles in caregiving and make the case for a more balanced, inclusive approach to parenting at home and at work.

Organisations across the UK ran events, panels, internal campaigns and conversations. Parents shared their stories on social and in the press. Thousands of people joined webinars, took the Out of Office Challenge and made care visible at work. And on Saturday 2 May, hundreds of people marched in London, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham to call for six weeks of paternity leave at 90% of pay.

Thank you to everyone who turned up, spoke up, posted, marched, hosted, sponsored and showed up for this in week one.

Equal Parenting Week 2027

Equal Parenting Week will return in 2027 and will run from 26 April to 2 May. Bigger reach. More employers taking part. More voices from parents themselves.

Dates and theme will be announced later this year. To be the first to hear, sign up to the Parenting Out Loud newsletter.

Want to bring Equal Parenting Week into your organisation in 2027, partner with us, or sponsor the campaign?

Watch the round-up

The week in numbers

Stella Creasy MP committed to taking six weeks of paternity leave at 90% of pay back to Parliament
4 cities marched for paternity leave reform: London, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham
A flagship launch event hosted by Deloitte on Monday 27 April
5 free public webinars covering parental leave, flexible working, the mental load, co-parenting after separation and Parenting Out Loud workplace culture, with hundreds of parents and allies attending live
National broadcast coverage on Channel 4 News, BBC News, ITV News and Sky News, alongside digital press coverage across major UK parenting and lifestyle publications
Hundreds of conversations about Parenting Out Loud and equal parenting on LinkedIn, with parents and employers sharing their own stories using #EqualParentingWeek
The Out of Office Challenge, with parents naming school runs, non-working days and caring responsibilities to make care visible in inboxes across the country
Organisations from across UK industries ran their own internal events, panels and campaigns to bring equal parenting into their workplaces

Four adults sitting on chairs on a stage

Push for Paternity Leave

On Saturday 2 May, under blue skies and bright sunshine, hundreds of dads, parents, kids and allies took to the streets in London, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham to call for six weeks of paternity leave at 90% of pay.

In Parliament Square, twelve speakers made the case: Stella Creasy MP, Joeli Brearley, Penny East, Kathy Jones, Femi Oluwole, Nigel Clark, Alex Trippier, Abi Foster, Riona O’Connor, Harry Baker, Lee Chambers and our founder Elliott Rae. Stella Creasy committed to taking the campaign back to Parliament, and we are walking away more confident than ever that six weeks of paternity leave at 90% of pay could be a reality.

Watch the speeches in full

We brought the full set of speeches from the march into a special episode of the To Be A Boy podcast. Watch the political case, the personal stories and the songs and poems that filled Parliament Square.

Dads taking part in Push for Paternity Leave with banners reading Let dads share the care

Watch the webinars

We hosted a series of free webinars across Equal Parenting Week, with speakers from across business, policy and lived experience. If you missed them, you can watch them back now.

Why Equal Parenting Week matters

Equal Parenting Week exists because, while attitudes are changing, the systems around parenting have not kept up. Many parents want to share care more fairly but face cultural, workplace and structural barriers that make it harder than it should be.

We believe equal parenting can change the world. We currently live in a world where gendered parenting roles persist, childcare is seen as women’s work, and the role of the father is reduced to providing.

The world is changing. Most families (73.9%) are dual income. The proportion of mothers in couple families who are breadwinners has risen from 18% to 31% over the last 15 years.

Despite this, the barriers to equal parenting remain. And those barriers are harmful to the whole family.

Equal parenting is about sharing care more fairly. It is recognising that caring is not “women’s work”. It is supporting dads to be active, visible caregivers. And it is about creating workplaces, policies and cultures that make this possible in everyday life.

Equal parenting means sharing the day-to-day realities of family life: the routines, the decisions, the mental load and the time with our children. It is sharing responsibility, authority and accountability. Who plans, who notices, who carries the weight. Pick-ups and drop-offs. Meal planning. Bath and bedtime. Decisions about childcare and health. Showing up, consistently, at home and at work.

Equal parenting looks different in every family. Across different family structures, circumstances and stages of life, it is a principle rather than a perfect formula.

We believe equal parenting can change the world. Because when care is shared more fairly, women aren’t left carrying the invisible load alone. It creates space for women’s careers, wellbeing and financial security, and reduces the long-term penalties that so often follow motherhood. At the same time, men have better balance and have more whole, fulfilling lives. The Fatherhood Institute research found that fathers who engage in day-to-day care are less likely to experience depression and report better mental health outcomes. Families are stronger, workplaces are healthier, and children grow up seeing care as everyone’s responsibility – not something that falls to one parent by default.

Equal parenting is good for mothers

Mothers do around 60% more childcare than fathers, even when both parents work full time. Twelve years after the birth of their first child, mothers earn on average 33% less than fathers.

Around 74,000 women lose their job every year due to maternity discrimination, and 80% of the UK’s gender pay gap is attributed to the motherhood penalty.

1 in 5 new mothers will experience some symptoms of postnatal depression, exacerbated by the unequal load of childcare and limited support from partners who have access to limited paternity leave.

Equal parenting is good for fathers

Working Families’ research shows that 74% of dads want to spend more time with their children. Many are restricted by poor workplace support and societal attitudes that mean they are not granted the flexibility to be equal parents.

50% of dads feel nervous about asking for flexible working (Working Families, 2025). And the UK has one of the worst paternity leave offers in Europe, with statutory paternity pay at £194.32 a week.

All of this contributes to men having shallower emotional relationships and poorer health outcomes. Men are more likely to die prematurely before the age of 65. Three in four suicides registered in England in 2024 were men (ONS, 2025).

Equal parenting is good for children

Research from the University of Leeds shows that children benefit emotionally, socially and developmentally when fathers are actively involved in their care. More equal parenting is linked to better wellbeing and stronger relationships throughout childhood and beyond.

Equal parenting is good for businesses

Workplaces that support shared parenting see higher retention, improved recruitment outcomes, stronger employee engagement and reduced burnout. When parents are supported to share care, businesses benefit from a more stable, motivated and diverse workforce.

Equal parenting is good for the economy

Enabling mothers to remain in, return to and progress at work boosts labour market participation, productivity and economic growth. Removing barriers to equal parenting is not just a social issue, it is an economic one. Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows if fathers were given 6 weeks paternity leave, it could add 2.6 billion to the economy.

Who took part in 2026

Organisations across the UK joined the movement, running events, internal campaigns and initiatives to champion equal parenting in their workplaces. Thank you to: