From left: Dr.Nilay Mahajan with his wife, Dr.
Charu Srivasta, and their daughter, Tarini; Manik Seghal with his son, Gunagyaa; and Ajas Ahmed, his wife, Reshma, and son, Naseer.From left: family photo; family photo; family photo hide caption They had always been a team.
But when his son Naseer was born in May 2025, Ajas Ahmed had never felt so helpless.His wife had endured a difficult labor.The baby was breech and she struggled for over ten hours in pain.
For a week, she lay bedridden in a hospital in Chennai, in southern India, recovering from the birth.Ahmed, a 27-year-old private chauffeur, stayed by her side."She needed my support.
I made sure I was there for her," he says.Fortunately, Ahmed's employer allowed him the time off.But long before Naseer's birth, fatherhood had already begun reshaping his life.
After his daughter, now 3, was born, he quit his job as an ambulance driver because the hours were punishing and the pressure relentless.He wanted work that would allow him to come home, spend time with his child and be present in ways his own father's generation may not have expected of men.Ahmed's story reflects a central tension identified in the 2026 State of the World's Fathers report: There's a persistent idea that men are providers first and caregivers second.But the report finds that men are often invested in childcare, especially in families with a small number of kids.
And the researchers came up with a surprising insight from their interviews with over 5,000 fathers.As men do more hands-on childcare, they face more stress … but they find meaning in it.
Nine out of ten fathers interviewed felt that caring for children is a deep source of happiness, says Taveeshi Gupta, one of the report's lead authors this year."We didn't see that one coming," says Gary Barker, CEO of Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Jus...