Case Study: Melbourne City Council

Melbourne City Council: MenCare Cities: Melbourne (2026)

Why this is important

The City of Melbourne is partnering with three international organisations - the City Hub and Network for Gender Equity (CHANGE), Publica, and Equimundo: Centre for Masculinities and Social Justice – to adapt the MenCare Cities model to the Melbourne context.

MenCare Cities is a global advocacy initiative coordinated by Equimundo that works with city governments, local partners and international networks to strengthen and scale policies, services, infrastructure and urban spaces that recognise, reduce, redistribute and revalue unpaid care work. The initiative also promotes men’s active participation in caregiving as a key pathway to advancing gender equality and building more caring cities.

Through a series of workshops, care has been explored as essential urban infrastructure. Policymakers, service providers and community members have come together to examine how care is experienced in everyday life, how it is reflected in neighbourhoods, and how it can be more intentionally embedded in policy, planning, and service delivery.

As one of five pilot cities working closely with CHANGE, Equimundo and Publica, Melbourne is helping to develop and test gender-transformative approaches to local government policy, services and public spaces. A Careblock Implementation Guide, drawing on lessons from the pilot cities, will be publicly available in late 2026.

Call to action

We encourage cities and local governments to adopt the MenCare Cities framework as a practical approach to engaging men as fathers and caregivers, and to drive meaningful progress toward gender equality.