August 2025 – ISSA published a policy brief that calls for governments to take action to make caregiving responsibilities more equitable through policies and practices. Key recommendations include improving paid leave for fathers, expanding affordable childcare, and redesigning early childhood services to include fathers. This brief was designed to influence the European Union as it prepares its Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 and urges policymakers to make shared caregiving of children a political, economic, and cultural priority so that fathers’ readiness to care becomes supported across Southern Europe.