United Nations Radio

This year's International Day of Families, observed on May 15th focuses on the important role fathers play in the lives of families and children around the world.

In his message for the day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that too many men have difficulty assuming the responsibilities of fatherhood, often with damaging consequences to families and society at large.

As family structures have evolved from extended towards nuclear families, fathers' direct role in child-rearing has grown. Joyce Kafanabo, Representative of Tanzania to the United Nations, says her own husband only became involved in the pregnancy and child birth process for their third child, because they were in Canada at the time.

"He now wished that he would have been present for all the births of the children. But still, when I tell my friends and when I told my parents, they said, no, this cannot be. This is against our traditions - men shouldn't be in the labor room."

The United Nations says national policies should aim at removing barriers to paternal involvement.

For United Nations Radio, I'm Dianne Penn.

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