This article explores how men's identity, capacity and responsibility as parents were understood and communicated in Swedish, government initiated, paternity leave campaigns, 1976-2006. Images of the "new father" are analyzed in relation to Swedish equal status policy, emphasizing men's and women's mutual responsibility for child care as well as economic provision. The result indicates that paternity leave campaigns represented something progressive and historically unique. Frequent depictions of men performing and talking about care work challenged traditional notions of men and masculinity. However, the campaigns also reproduced notions of gender relations that undercut, rather than supported, a radical vision of gender equality. In the period 1976-2001, men were positioned as secondary rather than primary parents. The early 2000s, however, saw a shift in the way fatherhood was represented in the campaigns. In contrast to earlier campaigns, men and women were given the same responsibility for parental leave--"Half each!"