there is little evidence of a counternarrative amongst men perhaps because childcare is not explicitly valued in constructions of masculinity a situation that is not dissimilar to that of other contexts in the global south and north but is more disempowering in this region because there are so few alternative ways for men to contribute to family life middleaged and older women see themselves and each other as hubs in the wheel of care yet they are blamed and vilified by other women and children for passing on misfortune