Ep 38: Fatherhood, masculinity, and the care revolution we urgently need. An interview with Taveeshi Gupta
What if the biggest lie we’ve been told about caregiving is that people don’t want to do it? In this powerful conversation, Rachel Childs and Kate Mangino sit down with Dr. Taveeshi Gupta, Senior Director of Research, Evaluation, and Learning from Equimundo to unpack the newly released State of the World’s Fathers 2026 report (a landmark global study spanning 16 countries and 8,000 parents). The findings are both devastating and hopeful. Parents overwhelmingly say caregiving brings joy, purpose and connection. Fathers want meaningful relationships with their children. Mothers and fathers alike say men are doing more care work than previous generations ever did. But the systems surrounding families (workplaces, economies, public policy, gender norms, childcare structures and cultural expectations) are failing caregivers at every turn. In this week’s conversation we explore: Why care should be treated as a basic human good, like food or shelter The dangerous rise of hyper-traditional gender narratives among younger men Why couples who hold more traditional gender beliefs actually report more conflict Why the manosphere is thriving in an era of economic insecurity The hidden “fatherhood flexibility stigma” in workplaces The tension between fathers wanting to care and not always defining care the same way women do Why caregiving conversations cannot be separated from capitalism, policy and structural inequality And why Taveeshi believes we are on the brink of a global “care revolution” This is a conversation about the systems we’ve built around care, and whether humanity can survive without rebuilding them. Read the report here: State of the World’s Fathers 2026 Subscribe to Equal-ish on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to be the first to hear the coaching edit from our interview. Find out more about your hosts Kate Mangino and Rachel Childs.