Breaking patterns project status and plans 2005

1
Breaking patternsproject status and plans2005

• MONA
• Foundation for the Women of Hungary
• by
• Zsuzsa Lestál, program manager

2
Hungarian project goals

• To raise awareness among men and women about the
  fact that childcare leave is available for men as
  well (paternity leave exists)
• To show and emphasize the advantages of paternity
  leave with existing role model cases in Hungary
• To convince employers to incorporate the idea of
  paternity leave into the corporate culture
• To provide practical and psychological assistance
  for men on paternity leave

3
Means of implementation

• Raising awareness
• Prepared a two-page description of the project
  and disseminated the material via listserves
  (such as listserves of human resource managers,
  gender experts, professional trainers,
  universities, NGOs)
• The file also asked for assistance in seeking
  role models in Hungary
• The description of the project was placed on the
  MONA website in Hungarian and English
• separate page for the issue/project was created
  on the Hungarian pages of the MONA website with
  useful links for employers and fathers

4
Means of implementation

• Role model cases
• Started to collect role models (not easy, used
  the internet and mostly private channels)
• men are ready to share their experiences and
  thoughts about paternity leave with the public
• Further men on paternity leave will be
  interviewed, and results will be summarized in a
  study paper at a later stage
• Interviews and study to be published on the
  Internet and on relevant listserves in
  newspapers
• Results will be used in preparing the Hungarian
  training module

5
Means of implementation

• Convincing employers
• An awareness-raising event will take place at the
  end of November (organized business breakfast
• A pilot training session will be held in December
  2005 in Budapest (target group men in leading
  positions)
• A 10-minute long training video (with English
  subtitles) will be made
• The film will be utilized during the training
  sessions

6
Means of implementation

• Providing assistance
• Online mentoring service on the MONA website
• Expert (mentor) provides e-mail counselling
• Open forum discussion on the topic
• Paternity leave blogs