To mark International Day of Families 2022, COFACE Families Europe launches #FamilyTeamWork, a joint campaign with Men Engage Eastern Europe & Central Asia, a UNFPA-led platform. 

Did you know that in the EU, on average almost all employed women (94 %) are involved in at least one unpaid care work activity at least several times a week, compared with 70 % of employed men? The most unequally shared tasks remain housework tasks, with 93 % of women and 53 % of men regularly undertaking such work.  

Because behind these statistics, hide more dire realities: parental burnout, gender pay gap, pension gap, harmful stereotypes, and their transmission to the next generation. And COFACE Families Europe has been pushing for these realities to be recognised and addressed in policy-making for decades. But on the International Day of Families 2022, COFACE Families Europe wants to trigger the change at the societal level by addressing the main protagonists of the change: family members!

   “The #FamilyTeamWork campaign invite all families to take a fresh look at the day-to-day running of their household and to come to a new agreement about fair sharing of the tasks for the benefit of all its members! Try our Bingo cards and household planner: start the conversation today & enjoy the long-lasting benefits for the whole family”

Annemie Drieskens, President of COFACE Families Europe

No matter the make-up of a family, a family is a team. Each person plays a unique role in the structure and function of their family, and each individual’s strengths and personality contribute to the family’s well-being. This is why we propose on the occasion of the International Day of Families 2022 a series of engaging and fun resources to bring the care and gender equality discussion directly within your families. The key conversation starters we have developed are Bingo cards and the principle is simple: through the playful use of these cards, we call on family members to reflect on how they share tasks and chores within their households and write down the new version of their #FamilyTeamWork in our Task planners.  

With this campaign, COFACE and MenEngage Eastern Europe & Central Asia call on parents and children, grandparents, and all societal stakeholders, to start a conversation about sharing care and household tasks, and team up against stereotypical roles within families. 

Let’s talk and implement a more equal distribution of unpaid work with the notion that a family is a team and should aim to work together for the sake of every member’s time and wellbeing.

Family as a team: setting goals and dealing with problems together

Teamwork can definitely help make your parenting & caring journey smoother and boost relationships with your children and among all members of the family. To make your family work as a team, it is good to have common objectives and goals that can motivate and engage different individuals.

In the Skills4Parents Learning Guide for parents, you will find learning packages to boost parenting skills in five areas: Communication, Empowerment, Meditation, Problem-Solving, and Digital. All of them provide important skills for teamwork and concrete tips to improve well being of every member of the family in an empowering way.

The guide was developed through the expertise of 6 organisations (through an Erasmus+ project) and is founded on values of human rights, non-discrimination, social inclusion, gender equality, intergenerational solidarity, and empowerment of all families and address to parents, grandparents, and to great extent children who are actively participating through fun activities and resources. The guide adopts a self-learning approach, allowing all learning parents; or everyone wanting to brush up on these skills,  to choose the content (tips, case studies, exercises) that they need to tackle the parenting challenges they are encountering at their own pace.

94% of employed women in the European Union are in charge of the care tasks of their families.

Ensuring that men and women share responsibilities in the household equally requires real, sustainable change – from the attitudes and behaviors of individuals all the way to our policies and institutions. In Eastern Europe specifically and Central Asia more globally, women spend 3 hours more per day on unpaid care work than men. Add paid work into the mix and many women are essentially pulling a “double shift” every day.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the load of unpaid care work shot up dramatically and it is mothers, and women in general, who are picking up the slack. It’s time to set an example and create change by sharing domestic work and duties in a balanced and fair way in order to create a more stress-free and positive family environment