The Fatherhood Movement

Throughout the United States, more than one-third of children don't live with their biological fathers, and about 17 million of those children don't live with any father at all. Of those, roughly 40 percent haven't seen their fathers in the last year. The over 500 Father's Rights organizations are trying in a variety of ways to change these statistics because they believe that fathers are necessary to the intellectual, psychological and emotional well- being of all children. "Family values" groups encourage long lasting stable, marriages and tough divorce laws to increase the number of two- parent households. Some organizations focus on reasonable child support and visitation, as well as creative joint custody arrangements to combat fatherless ness after divorce. Still other sects within the movement encourage responsible fatherhood through counseling for "Deadbeat" or "Dead-broke" Dads, job training and placement to increase the likelihood of child support payments and educational seminars to teach men how to be emotionally supportive fathers. The unique coalition of conservative pro-marriage groups, white middle-class divorcées and low- income fathers is an unusual alliance. But regardless of philosophical and tactical differences, the essential mission is the same- to improve the relationship between our nation's fathers and their children.

A Brief History

Throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries, wives and children were considered property of the husband. Divorce was very rare, but when it did occur, children would automatically become custody of the father. Even if a father died, his wife was not assured custody of the children unless his will explicitly stated so. In the Early 1900's, courts and state legislatures began to support maternal rights, viewing the mother as the more nurturing parent. The "tender years" doctrine, implemented in many states, encouraged courts to place young children with mothers because mothers were seen as essential to emotional development. The maternal preference continued to increase throughout the 1950's and 60's. With the spread of no-fault divorce laws throughout the late 1970's, and the increase of women's participation in the work force, women were more able to obtain divorces from unhappy marriages. Maternal preference in custody battles gave women a huge advantage, and a vast ...

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...hers Manifesto or Dads Against the Divorce Industry, who use feminist bashing, gay bashing and make up outlandish statistics to support their cause. Aside for the fact that they support the repeal of the 19th Amendment, the Father's Manifesto web site includes a non-sensical graph which proves that 0% of 12th grade girls know anything about math and/or physics! Although I understand that many of these men are angry and frustrated, they will achieve nothing by make ludicrous claims and discriminating against women and homosexuals. Groups like this serve as easy targets for people opposing the movement, and reflect badly on educated reformers who see a need for change. I think that in order to be successful as a movement, positive Father's Right's organizations should distance themselves from the fringe groups, and try to make a cohesive movement excluding the reactionary organizations.

Overall, I think that this movement focuses on a problem that many policy makers have ignored for two long. Our children do need fathers, and while I don't necessarily agree with the different ways these groups want to achieve their goals, I commend their efforts and think this is an important cause.