For Ruslan, who lives in Moldova, fatherhood is built from small things. He still remembers the first time his six-month old, Albert, smiled at him. “I think that was the moment I truly understood what it means to be a father,” he said.
Fatherhood that is present, attentive, and emotionally involved is personal, but it also has the power to transform societies. When fathers are emotionally and physically present in their children’s lives, it changes how families share the burden of care, and how women and girls are treated both in the house and in their communities.
When fathers step in, mothers and daughters can step out
In most countries, men still hold more power than women in government, in business, and in the home. That imbalance shapes the lives of women and girls everywhere—from whether a girl can finish school, to if a new mother can return to work, to whether a community tolerates violence against women.
When fathers and partners step into caregiving roles as equals, that imbalance changes. Daughters can stay in school, mothers can rejoin the workforce, and sons grow up watching a role model of fatherhood defined by presence and partnership. Beliefs and traditions of inequality that pass quietly from one generation to the next are broken the moment fathers decide to step up.
UNFPA works with men and boys in dozens of countries to build exactly this kind of shift. Not by replacing women’s roles in motherhood or leadership, but by inviting men into the work of equality.
“Fatherhood means being involved, not just helping”
Ruslan has been a father for six months. He and his wife, Cristina, have been together for more than seven years, and starting a family came naturally for them. But becoming a parent has opened emotions for Ruslan that he had never felt before.
“I started looking at life differently,” he said. “I felt more and more responsible for providing safety, love, and stability.”
After becoming a father, he joined a local Fathers’ Club, supported by UNFPA Moldova, out of curiosity. There, he met other men who wanted to be present in their children’s lives. They spoke openly about family, emotions, and responsibility—all topics that can still feel off-limits for many men in today’s world.
“I realized that society is more open than I thought,” he said. “Engaged fathers are no longer an exception.”
What struck Ruslan most was the language other fathers used. They didn’t talk about “helping” their partners with the baby. They talked about being involved. The difference is small, but it changes everything—strengthening the bond between a father and his child, changing the way parents care for their children on a fundamental level, and challenging the long-held assumption that caregiving is a mother’s job.
“Fatherhood means being involved, not just helping,” Ruslan said. “There are no fixed roles. Emotional involvement is just as important.”
The Fathers’ Club is part of a regional UNFPA program that works to challenge harmful gender stereotypes and prevent violence against women and girls across Eastern Europe.
Rethinking What a “Father’s Job” Is
Across Eastern Europe, other fathers are pushing against an older idea: that a man’s main role in his family is to provide financially, and that the day-to-day work of raising a child is someone else’s job.
“Before becoming a father, I was a free spirit and I had quite a full social agenda,” Adrian said. “Now, however, almost everything is limited to job duties and coming home before bath time. I want to be with him in the most important moments of his life, and this means that I have to take part in my baby’s daily care routine.”
For Adrian, presence isn’t only about wanting to be there. It’s about setting an example of what equal parenthood looks like.
“Many men are probably still reluctant to apply for paternity leave due to the stereotype that men have to ensure the economic security of the family,” he said. “But times change, and both women and men are responsible for the family that they created together.”
In Moldova, UNFPA works to expand paternity leave and family-friendly policies, so fathers like Adrian have the time to choose to be present.
What fatherhood can be
Ruslan and Adrian are two fathers, in different stages of life, showing up for their families. Their stories are a reminder that fatherhood, at its best, isn’t a role to perform or a paycheck to provide. It’s a relationship built day by day, in small moments that add up over a lifetime.
“Everything we do in our family today will stay with them for a long time.” – Ruslan