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Throughout the many years, psychologists have examined the roles of fathers in parenting and development of the child. According to Youn-Soo Roh and Sonam Yang (2013), “actors of role awareness and role action are mutually complementary as a whole, and father’s role awareness is regarded as an important variable of parenting participation (Son and Yoon, 2011).” Phares and Compas (1992) , Doherty, Kouneski, and Erickson (1998) are just some examples of comprehensive psychological studies done on a father’s role in child’s life. All of the studies ultimately reach the same conclusion that co- parenting proves to be a positive influence on a child’s life in the long run as compared to just the mother taking care of the child. So, if this is the case, then why do we as a society think of child rearing as a mother’s job?
If we think from a biological perspective, the mother carries her child for 9 months before birth, and nurses the child for the next several months as well; hence the mother definitely plays an extremely important role in making sure the child remains healthy. This may be reason why the responsibility of bringing up the child is given to the mother. But the other reason, if we look closer, may be that women were thought incapable of doing anything else- they were deprived of the opportunity as well. Today in the modern world, even though women have proven themselves to be more than capable to work, child rearing is still deemed their responsibility. This stems from the thought that a woman’s life purpose is to give birth and raise the child. However, the modern woman has the power of choices and does not have to conform to such age- old patriarchal traditions.
Today, co- parenting should be promoted more than ever, the father’s role and contribution to the household being more than just monetary. This can only happen when children today are taught to break free of the restricting gender roles and make their own informed decisions. This way, we can step into a more equal and peaceful world with harmonious families and individuals.