Dr Taveeshi Gupta is the lead researcher behind The State of the World's Fathers 2026, Equimundo's tracking study of global fatherhood, which has been run every two years since 2015.

The just-released 2026 edition surveyed 8,000 parents across 16 countries, and the headline finding is striking: in just three years, between 2023 and 2026, attitudes about who should do care work have measurably gone backwards. The number of fathers who think boys shouldn't be taught to change a nappy has almost doubled.

In this conversation, recorded live at Women Deliver 2026 in Melbourne, Taveeshi sits down with Women's Agenda's Angela Priestley to unpack the data, the contradiction between what fathers want and what they believe, the trap of the "wallet dad" identity, and the surprising political constituency that nobody is currently organising: fathers who say they'd pay higher taxes for public care services, at a higher rate than mothers do.

Backlash Conversations is a Women's Agenda Podcast series, recorded live at Women Deliver 2026 in Melbourne. Check out more from the series in the feed.

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