What do we know about fatherhood and norms concerning fatherhood in Russia? This article investigates this question using previous research and the contemporary state-discourse. Family and parenthood have been important parts of the state-discourse during the last decades due to the demographic situation in Russia. However, at the same time, fathers are more or less absent from the discourse while mothers and children are occurring frequently. With this as a background, the role of the father is examined, in the past and in the present. This is done using previous research on Soviet and Russian fatherhood, with the aid of knowledge gained through fatherhood studies in other national contexts as well as current policy documents and presidential speeches.

The results show that norms concerning fatherhood are closely connected to the sociopolitical context and changes in welfare systems and in the gender contract. The development of fatherhood models differ between Russian and West European, and American, experiences. In today’s Russia there are competing discourses, suggesting that the role of the father is contested. There is evidence of both a marginalized fatherhood model, a legacy from Soviet times, of the traditional breadwinner model of fatherhood as well as of a more nurturing and active type of fatherhood.