Three women, dressed in bright workout attire, pause abruptly and look about in shock. A young woman pushing a baby in a stroller takes out her phone and takes a photo. An old man with a thick mustache stops to clean his spectacles.
The image of twelve men hunched next to a vehicle in the bright morning sun, trying—with differing degrees of success—to change diapers on baby dolls is what has caught their attention. The majority are middle-aged folks, although one youngster and a few seniors are also trying it.
As he examines a doll that one of the men in training has given to him, teacher and certified psychologist Omar Jimenez remarks, “That’s not bad for your first try.” However, The diaper may have been wrapped a little more tightly. It’s also a little off. The fluids shouldn’t be leaking out.
Sergio Rivera, the trainee, nods slightly disappointed. However, the 26-year-old is a work in progress, just like the other males present at this pop-up session in southern Bogota.
“Knowing this is like a breath of fresh air,” remarks Rivera, who is autistic and under his mother’s care. His mother raised him and his older brother by herself after his parents split when he was still a small child. “As a boy, I was never taught how to do it.”
The men only had thirty-minute “taster” intervals on this warm December day to master the fundamentals, such utilizing toys to interact with kids and teach a partner how to braid their hair, but the class is a part of the larger Escuela de Hombres al Cuidado program, which is essentially a “care school for men.”
The ambitious, city-run effort began in 2021 and has been teaching men in Colombia’s vast capital how to be better brothers, sons, spouses, fathers, and all the other roles that are traditionally associated with men.
Instructor Omar Jimenez Vega watches a guy attempt a diaper change during a pop-up event sponsored by the Men’s Care School. CNN’s Peter Yeung
The project, according to the city’s officials, will help combat the nation’s deeply ingrained male chauvinism, or machismo culture, and therefore urge men to participate fairly to household chores and caring, which they claim is the main cause of gender disparity in the nation.
“My mother put a lot of effort into raising me and supporting me,” adds Rivera, who happened to stumble across the occasion while out on the town. However, women shouldn’t be the only ones doing it. Men need to do our share of the work.
According to research from Bogota City Hall that was only made available to CNN, there may already be some effect from the program. According to a survey conducted in late 2023, more women and men in Bogota than ever before claim they divide up household chores evenly. Thanks in part to men like Jimenez, attitudes around gender norms and masculinity have also changed.
