Spotlight on Elliott Rae
This week, we’re shining a spotlight on Elliott Rae and his incredible work in advancing gender equality.
Gender equality isn’t just about women and is something we’ll only achieve when all working in the same direction. Men need to be educated around women’s experiences and understand the role they play in advancing towards equality. They are in a privileged position and so often have more leverage to drive real change. In fact 96% of organisations see progress when men are engaged in gender inclusion programmes (compared to 30% when they’re not). Men are also negatively impacted by gendered stereotypes, especially when it comes to their mental wellbeing. Which is why we’re shouting about Elliott Rae and his brilliant work in changing the landscape for men...
Elliott is an author, speaker and social change maker. He helps organisations support working fathers, improve men’s mental health and engage men in conversations around gender equality. He is also the founder of MusicFootballFatherhood.com (MFF) - dubbed the 'Dad’s version of Mumsnet’ by the BBC. Elliott was previously the Head of D&I Delivery at HM Treasury and is one of the UK’s leading speakers on fatherhood, mental health & masculinity.
He founded MFF in 2016 after suffering from PTSD after the traumatic birth of his daughter. The online community for fathers has 100s of relatable resources and articles for dads. Elliott also presented the BBC1 documentary 'Becoming Dad' in Jan 2022, the first show of its kind to bring issues around dad's mental health and equal parenting to the mainstream. He published a book 'DAD: untold stories of fatherhood, love, mental health and masculinity’ and the United Nations recently awarded him the #HeForShe ‘Change-maker of the Year’ UN Women UK award for his work on engaging men in gender equality.
Elliott runs workshops on Engaging Dad’s, Positive Masculinity, Allyship, Mental Health. He coined the term ‘Parenting Out Loud’ which is all about normalising Dad’s being active and equal parents, Elliott said, “Dads parenting out loud is both the symptom and cause of culture change.” His initiative recently made it to Parliament via Stella Creasy (watch here) and is just one of the ways in which Elliott is making an impact.
Find out more about Elliott and his work on his website. You can also follow him for inspiring content around gender equality, men’s mental health and equal parenting on LinkedIn, and buy his book here.
Squash use drama to spotlight the reality of gender bias in the workplace. By crafting immersive experiences, we empower participants to critically examine, challenge, and rewrite the scripts that perpetuate inequality. Find out more at www.wearesquash.com
