Transformation of Attitudes Toward Male (Non-) Participation in the Childbirth Process in Lithuania During the Late Twentieth and the Early Twenty-First Centuries

Abstract

The article examines the transformation of male (non)participation in the childbirth process. The scarcity of ethnological research analysing men’s (non-)involvement in childbirth in Lithuania prompted an ethnographic field study, which was conducted from the late twentieth to the early twenty-first century. The aim was to investigate how male (non-)participation in childbirth evolved and what roles men assumed during the birth process. Historical sources and findings from ethnological, sociological, psychological, biomedical, and gender studies indicate that both male (non-)participation and men’s actions during childbirth shifted in accordance with cultural, historical, and social contexts. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the topic of men’s involvement in the birth of a child (i.e., participation in childbirth) was receiving increasing scholarly attention. An ethnographic study conducted between 2023 and 2025 revealed that men are becoming more active participants in the childbirth process. Within a broader historical context, a gradual shift can be observed: from culturally constrained (non-)involvement, when men were physically absent from childbirth or participated only in exceptional cases and still played significant roles in ensuring protection, caregiving, and maintaining the domestic environment, to more active, institutionally encouraged engagement. This engagement increasingly includes direct participation in childbirth and reflects a broader transition toward shared parental responsibilities. Male involvement in childbirth is negotiated at the family level, where decision-making is shaped by the expectations and mutual agreement of both partners.