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Father School: S tep by StepFather School: a Path of Equal Opportunitiesfor New FathersThe world is changing and that impacts the life of ordinary women and men. On the one hand, needs of thenew age require abandoning gender stereotypes. The stereotypes where a woman is just a house wife taking care offamily hearth and where a man is the chief breadwinner and defender. On the other hand, we must recognize thatour society is still dominated by the norms where any change in men’s or women’s role is interpreted as a break withtradition and a damage of moral rules.Improved efficiency and quality of social work for families with children by state and non-governmentalproviders along with introduction of innovations and technologies are a key objective of any modern social policy.Almost all post-soviet states signed and ratified the European Social Charter. The Charter proclaims the legality of thefollowing rights:Family’s right to social, legal and economic protection;Right to equal opportunities and equal treatment in matters of employment and occupation withoutdiscrimination on the grounds of sex.Among its main principles the European Social Charter states that the family as a fundamental unit of thesociety has the right to appropriate social, legal and economic protection to ensure its full development.Gender equality at society and family levels, gender awareness and general education, and trainings organizedfor men are rather new domains of social work. It shall be said that main types of gender-targeted methods of socialwork were primarily focused at protecting women’s rights and interests and were used by women’s nongovernmentalorganizations, women’s crisis centers and state services assisting women.Having reviewed current social projects and programs for families and children (regardless of whether theservice provider is a state institution or an NGO) one could see that many of these programs are underpinned bygender stereotypes and do not promote gender equality or cooperation between men and women. Excluding menfrom social project clients in fact worsens gender imbalance and increases gender disparity in society.Psychologically stable relations between all family members are an important component of family’s socialhealth. Young families with babies can gain the stability by assigning a more active role to the husband through hisinvolvement in baby care from the very first days of baby’s life. Such involvement can be promoted by training allinterested fathers-to-be in Father Schools. Why is fatherhood so often undervalued? Possibly because we believe thatonly mothers can really cope with parenthood obligations and that fathers must put up with their support function.Views on father’s role in child’s life continue to evolve. This subject interests scientists as well as millions ofordinary people who are getting ready to become or are already parents. Psychology and pedagogics of fatherhood isa dynamically developing domain in contemporary science, psychological and pedagogical practice, and in socialwork. Compared to the abundance of statistics and scientific materials on mother’s role in child’s life, there is a lackof research and papers that would clearly and intelligibly explain the role and the tasks of father in modern familyand society.Currently, social sciences and humanities differentiate between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ as a means to labelphysiological and social/cultural differences between men and women. ‘Sex’ describes biological differences betweenpeople due to genetics, anatomy, physiology and reproductive functions. ‘Gender’ points out the social status andsocial/psychological personal qualities determined by sex and sexuality. These aspects are formed throughinteraction between people and are specific to a particular culture.Traditionally the word ‘sex’ was used to denote anatomical and physiological differences between humans thatdivide them into men and women. Sex (i.e., biological differences) was considered the basis and the primary causeof psychological and social differences between women and men. The accumulated research data shows that, interms of biology, men and women have more similarities than differences. Many researchers even believe that theonly clear and significant biological difference between men and women is indeed their role in the reproduction ofspecies.Biological differences in people are accompanied by different social roles, occupations, behavioral specifics andemotional profiles. Anthropologists, ethnographers and historians have long ago found that our concepts of a ‘typical6