26 Robin Hadley: Men and the impact of childlessness
Robin is from Old Trafford, Manchester (UK). He comes from a large working-class family and left school with few qualifications. His careers include research consultant, counsellor, deputy technical manager, scientific photographer and kitchen assistant. Robin’s training as a counsellor and his own experience of desperately wanting to be a dad led him to research the desire for fatherhood in childless men as part of his MA in Counselling (The University of Manchester). He then self-funded MSc in Research Methods (UoMr) exploring the levels of desire for parenthood (‘broodiness’) in females and males, parents and non-parents.
Robin then successfully completed his PhD at Keele University where he examined the impact of involuntary childlessness on the lives of older men. His research has been widely published in international and national media. He supports several infertility and involuntary childless support groups and is a founder member of the campaign group Ageing Without Children.
He is a leading expert on the impact of male childlessness across the life course. Robin is from Old Trafford, Manchester (UK). He comes from a large working-class family and left school with few qualifications. His previous careers include counsellor, deputy technical manager, scientific photographer, and kitchen assistant. In his 40s Robin switched careers and trained as a counsellor. His counsellor training and his own experience of desperately wanting to be a dad, led him to research the desire for fatherhood for his self-funded MA (2008) and MSc (2009) and involuntarily childless older men for his PhD (2015). Robin’s work has been widely published in international and national media and his book ‘How is a man supposed to be a man? Male childlessness a Life Course Disrupted’ has received critical acclaimed. You can find more about his work at his website: https://www.robinhadley.co.uk
Key points of the episode:
As always, who inspired him growing up.
The atmosphere in the house while growing up.
The job he did for years, then retrained.
Statistics (and the lack of for men) on childless people.
A possible link to male health and well being.
Future implications for men.
Stats for IVF.
How these issues are not recognised in the workplace.