Inspired by a male friend who felt under-represented as a diaper changing daddy and the diaper-changing woes of women, Mumbai mom Almas Virani started a petition urging Pampers to include fathers in their brand packaging.
With Covid-19 adding to the pressures of household chores, new moms have been doing the heavy lifting with cooking, cleaning, nursing babies and changing diapers. There has been a significant spike in the ratio of ‘work from home dads’ who could share the diaper responsibility too.
On International Men’s Day, Almas celebrates the nurturing side of men by asking people to sign her petition asking Pampers to include the image of the father and along with the mother on their diaper packaging globally. We often celebrate men providing for their children but acts of nurturing are not encouraged widely by the society and left alone for mothers to indulge in.
Almas, a motivational speaker and writer, also runs a podcast where she creates awareness on gender stereotypes. “It’s time to move away from the stereotyping of parenting roles. Parents today take equal ownership and are equally involved in the upbringing of the child. Little changes like these will go a long way in changing stereotypes in the world. Let’s move beyond the stereotype and add a new dimension to parenting. Let’s move beyond stereotypes because #PapaPampersToo,” she shared.
American journalist and author of Raising Boys To Be Good Men Aaron Gouevia supported the petition and said, “Research suggests fathers who are involved, have kids who are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to succeed, there are countless benefits to being an involved dad. This petition is important because representation matters. If more men see pictures of themselves in child care, it sets the expectation higher.”
India’s youngest adoptive parent of a down syndrome child, Aditya Tiwari, said, “I support this petition because parenting is not based on any gender.” Mumbai-based stay-at-home dad Sahil Jaffrey too supported this petition, “I change diapers for my kids. So many men who I know do everything from cooking to laundry to changing diapers. This change will inspire more men to say that we are here for our child too.”
- Pampers is the #1 global diaper brand by P&G that already took few initiatives on bringing social change.
- Almas Virani’s petition #PapaPampersToo is urging them to take another step forward with a specific ask of including fathers in packaging in India and at least 10 other countries.
- The petition is receiving wide support from across India by both men and women.
- Representation of men is clearly missing in fatherhood right from diaper changing to birthing classes to taking kids for vaccine shots or to the park.
- Pampers serves 25 million babies in more than 100 countries and can have a huge impact on social change.
- Procter & Gamble has taken on several campaigns in the past to bring about social change. Their campaign #ItTakes2 which was launched around Father’s Day. In the past Pampers also partnered with multi-Grammy award-winning musician and dad, John Legend, to celebrate all the ways dads make every moment special, including changing diapers. Pampers hosted a party called Daddy Play Date in Manhattan, USA, with celebrity fathers guests gathered to pay “homage to dads on diaper duty.”
