Fathering

Joseph Pleck's article gives a historical perspective on how the role of fathers has changed over time in the United States. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, mothers did most of the domestic work while the fathers were off at work in the mill, on the farm, in the shop, etc. However, the father still had a very important role. Because women were viewed as weak and indulgent and children as naturally sinful, fathers, men of reason and discipline, played the role of the moral and religious overseer and teacher of the family. It was the father's job to teach, educate, and guide his sinful child to developing sound reason and religious beliefs. The father was always seen as commanding and the children and mother as obedient.

As the 19th century rolled on, a change took place in the role of the father. Mothers' role increased and the father began to develop more distant, indirect relationships with his children. This change is due in part to a new social ideology of the time. Whereas before women were seen as misled by passions and indulgent, a new view of women as pure, unselfish and nurturing prevailed. More emphasis was also placed on infancy and early childhood rather than on adolescence, so the mother took on an important nurturing and rearing role. It is here when people started to believe that women had a natural inclination toward rearing children. Female teachers began teaching in schools and mothers began to play a large role in shaping the personality and behavior of their children. The distancing of the father during this time was due to industrialization. For the first time, fathers spent their days working outside of the house. The father became portrayed primarily as a breadwinner who supported the family with his wages. Because of this, fathers spent less time with their children and developed a more distant, indirect relationship with their children. Men still remained the primary moral overseer and disciplinarian having the ultimate say, however, they were only really called in when the mother couldn't successfully assert her authority. As a result, many people believe fathers began to lose touch with what was going on in the family.

Increased paternal absence began to present a problem. People thought fathers were beginning to lose authority and most importantly, influence over their sons. Many psychologists began to argue that the father's absence thwarted the son's development of male identity and masculinity. Their initial identification with their mothers affected their masculinity. As a result, many parodies illustrated the growing problem portraying men as feminine and domestic. In the 1940s and 50s criticism of maternal dominance grew stronger and stronger. A new image of fathers arose called the sex role model. Although this new image was prevalent, fathers still maintained their position as distant breadwinners. This new role of the father was meant to erradicate the distortion of masculinity and femininity. As opposed to the 18th century when he taught morality, the late 19th century father was supposed to teach masculinity to his sons and femininity to his daughters. This remained a somewhat limited role, however. The father still was off at work and the mother did most of the childcare but the father was responsible for balancing out the effects of his absence and of the mother's excessive influence.

Expectations of fathers today include a mixture of the various historical roles. Fathers are still expected to be the dominant breadwinners, however, women are increasingly entering the workforce and contributing a good deal to the income of the family. Fathers also are still expected to be the sex role model. The media and actual life experiences show sons looking up to their fathers and daughters constantly trying to impress them. With the rise of feminism and the changing role of women in the workforce, fathers are increasingly expected to do more domestic work as the mother's absence from the children increases.

The majority of alternating-shifters are blue collar workers of the working and sometimes middle classes. Many couples decide to alternate shifts because the man alone cannot earn enough in his blue collar job to support the family. By alternating shifts both the man and woman are able to bring in money without spending money on someone to look after the children and to keep up with housework. Although money is almost always a factor in becoming alternating shifters, many couples also believe that their children should only be cared for by their family. Some people, especially couples of the middle-class, believe that the bond between themselves and their children will be broken if the children are sent to daycare and many people worry about the care provided in child care programs. Similarly, couples often want to instill their own values in their children, not the values of the workers at the child care center. It's hard to say how I personally stand on the issue since I have not experienced being a mother. I think it's hard to say what you would do with your kid without actually having a kid. However, I would think that alternating shifts would be a good possibility for my family. I think it is good to allow both the man and the woman the chance to contribute to the economic well being of the family. Also, I think balancing out the influence of the mother and father on the children is beneficial, relating to the arguments made in the previous article about excessive maternal influence and deficient paternal direct interaction. Obviously, having another person to help out with housework is a plus too!

In the Black culture, the dominant matriarch in a single parent family is the norm. Statistics show that more black unwed women give birth than white women, creating many single parent, fatherless families. Society uses this occurence to create a stigma of the absent black father. Much of society grows to view black males as "gangster," violent, drug addicts, etc. This image of black males is then used to make black families the scapegoats for their own plight. Instead of considering societal problems, many people simply jump to blame the nature of the black culture for the crime, drugs, poverty, etc. found in many black communities. Societal forces that discourage black males participation in the family include the promises of welfare helping to increase unwed births, racial repression, unemployment and incarceration of black males, and poverty. In some respect, the creation of the myth of the absent Black father serves to deflect attention to America's institutionalized racism and its deficient systems of welfare, etc. Absent black fathers are often blamed for the poverty of their family when in reality, even if the father was present, the family would still be impoverished. Black fathers often have a close relationship with their children, but because they are not married to the mother and providing economic stability as the patriarch, they are blamed for the plight of the family.