Men on the Margins: Supporting Engaged Fatherhood - Prof Anna Tarrant

Fathers on low-incomes and young fathers are often portrayed in media and politics as ‘feckless’ and ‘failing’. Father absence is blamed for a wide range of social problems, including crime, antisocial behaviour, and poor educational outcomes. These discourses have intensified in the UK in recent months with renewed assertions about a ‘crisis of masculinity’. However, Professor Anna Tarrant’s research over many years demonstrates that most fathers, including those who are young or experiencing poverty, very much want to care for their children. Yet they face numerous structural obstacles in doing so, such as a lack of secure jobs, suitable housing, or welfare support, and being sidelined by services who may see them as inherently ‘risky’. Young fathers in particular (as with young mothers) are frequently presented as a ‘social problem’. 

Anna’s research challenges these unhelpful stereotypes, shining a light on the ways in which many young men and working-class fathers (as well as grandfathers, uncles, brothers, and other family members) are engaging in love and caregiving, with transformative impacts on them, their children, and their partners. She discusses what changes need to happen for policies and services to become more ‘father-inclusive’ without undermining vital support for mothers, and why this is good for gender equality and for society as a whole. 

Anna Tarrant is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Lincoln (UK), a UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Future Leaders Fellow, and Director of the Centre for Innovation in Fatherhood and Family Research. She is currently the Director of the UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship study, 'Following Young Fathers Further'. She has written three books: 

• The Dynamics of Young Fatherhood (with Bren Neale, Policy Press, 2024)
• Men, Families and Poverty (with Kahryn Hughes, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)
• Fathering and Poverty: Uncovering Men's Family Participation in Low Income Families (Policy Press, 2021)
• Follow Anna on LinkedIn
• Anna is also the Director of the Father-Inclusion Hub

She is also co-editor, with Linzi Ladlow and Laura Way, of the book ‘Men and Welfare’ (Routledge, 2022), in which Sandy and Stephen have a chapter on ‘Men, work, and care in the UK in the wake of COVID-19’.

Episode timeline

• Intro
• Notions of a ‘crisis of masculinity’ due to fatherlessness (02:59-08:17)
• Obstacles low-income fathers face (08:17-11:12)
• Lack of housing (11:12-13:21)
• Why young fathers are constructed as a ‘social problem’ (13:21-17:27)
• Barriers to services engaging with fathers (17:27-22:12)
• Break 
• How gender norms influence societal perceptions of fathers (22:22-25:10)
• Working with fathers who have been abusive (25:10-28:50)
• What a father-inclusive approach looks like (28:50-34:19)
• Policy change to support active fatherhood (34:19-41:38)
• Anna’s early research on grandfathers (41:38-48:28)
• The personal dynamics of research (48:28-51:22)
• Conclusion (51:22-59:22)

More info

• Prof Laura King’s research on the social history of fatherhood in the UK
• For Baby’s Sake
• Caring Dads
• Young Dads’ Collective
• North East Young Dads and Lads
• DigiDad
• International Network on Leave Policies & Research
• ‘The Vegetarian’ by Han Kang

Music: 'Now is time', courtesy of Chaps' Choir and Dom Stichbury.