Fathers' rights movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The fathers' rights movement is a movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support that affect fathers and their children.[1][2] Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their children's mother—either after divorce or as unwed fathers, and the children of the terminated marriage. The movement includes women as well as men, often the second wives of divorced fathers or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law.[1][3][4]Most of the members of the fathers' rights movement had little prior interest in the law or politics. However, as they felt that their goal of equal shared parenting was being frustrated by the family courts, many took an interest in family law, including child custody and child support.[1][2][5]Though it has been described as a social movement,[6][7] members of the movement believe their actions are better described as part of a civil rights movement.[5][8] Objections to the characterizations of the movement as a social movement are related to the belief that discrimination against fathers moves beyond the social sciences and originates in government intervention into family life.[9]The movement has received international press coverage as a result of high profile activism of their members,[1][2] has become increasingly vocal, visible and organised, and has played a powerful role in family law debates.[1]The name "Fathers' rights movement" can be used to criticise fathers for being more interested in their "rights" than the well being of their children. The name is also linked to the Men's Rights Movement which is criticised as misogynist and anti- feminist.
Michael Flood states "FR is defined by the claim that fathers are deprived of their ′rights′.. FR groups overlap with mens' rights groups and represent an organised backlash to feminism".[1.
However interest in fathers' opportunities to provide childcare is not limited to anti feminist hate groups. Groups such as the Women's Equality Party campaign both for fathers' interests and womens' interests. Demographics[edit]The fathers' rights movement exists almost exclusively in industrialized countries, where divorce has become more common.[1. It emerged in the West from the 1.
Families Need Fathers which originated in the 1. In the late twentieth- century the growth of the internet permitted wider discussion, publicity and activism about issues of interest to fathers' rights activists.[1. Factors thought to contribute to the development of the fathers' rights movement include shifting household demographics brought about by rising divorce and falling marriage rates, changes in the understanding and expectations of fatherhood, motherhood and childhood as well as shifts in how legal systems impact families.[1][2][1. Fathers' rights groups in the West are primarily composed of white, middle or working class, heterosexual men.[1. Members tend to be politically conservative[4][2.
Directory of father's and men's rights organizations, mostly groups in the United States.
- Men's movement; Mythopoetic men's movement; Men's liberation movement; Men's rights movement; Fathers' rights movement; Egalitarianism.
- Stephen Baskerville is an associate professor of political science, president of the American Coalition of Fathers and Children and fathers' rights advocate and.
- The Basic Rights of Grandparents: There are two basic rights with respect to grandparents and their grandchild(ren), custody and visitation. Obtaining Court Ordered.
- Ottawa Men's Centre is a dedicated support group whose primary goal is to stem the trend of suicide by fathers. We provide divorce resources, impartial attorney.
- The Role of the Wife and Mother. In the later nineteenth century things for women began to change. No doubt this had something to do with modernity and its intrinsic.
Members of the fathers' rights movement advocate for strong relationships with their children[2. Women, often new partners including second wives or other family members of men who have had some engagement with family law and mothers without custody, are also members of the fathers' rights movement and fathers' rights activists emphasize this.[3][1. Two studies of fathers' rights groups in North America found that fifteen percent of their members were women.[4][1. The fathers' rights movement organizations Families Need Fathers and the Lone Fathers Association have campaigned for fathers' rights over many decades.[1][3][2.
7) Bund für Männerrechte (“Federation for Men’s Rights”; erroneously called in English language sources, Liga Für Menschenrechte (League for Men’s Rights).
Longer lasting organizations appear to result from the longterm dedication and commitment of key individuals.[3][2. Other fathers' rights groups have tended to form and dissolve quickly.[1][3][2. Internal disagreements over ideology and tactics are common,[2.
Political and social views[edit]The fathers' rights movement has both liberal and conservative branches, with different viewpoints about how men and women compare. Though both groups agree on the victimization and discrimination against men, they disagree on why men and women differ (nature versus nurture) and traditional gender roles. The liberal version believes differences between the sexes are due to culture and supports equality between men and women; in contrast the conservative branch believes in traditional patriarchal/complementary families and that the differences between genders are due to biology.[2.
Ross Parke and Armin Brott view the fathers' rights movement as one of three strands within the men's movement that deal almost exclusively with fatherhood, the other two being the good fathers' movement and groups forming the Christian Men's movement – the Promise Keepers being the largest.[2. Warren Farrell, a veteran of the women's, men's and fathers' movement since the 1. Farrell also believes the movement helps children by increasing the number who are raised equally by both parents which in turn increases the children's social, academic, psychological, and physical benefits—in his opinion it becomes a children's rights issue with fathers acting as advocates.[1.
Movement[edit]Members of the fathers' rights movement assert that fathers are discriminated against as a result of gender bias in family law,[2][1. The movement's primary focus has been to campaign (including lobbying and research) for formal legal rights for fathers, and sometimes for children, and to campaign for changes to family law related to child custody, support and maintenance, domestic violence and the family court system itself. Fathers’ rights groups also provide emotional and practical support for members during separation and divorce.[1]Some fathers' rights groups have become frustrated with the slow pace of traditional campaigning for law reform; groups such as the originally UK- based Fathers 4 Justice have become increasingly vocal and visible, undertaking public demonstrations which have attracted public attention and influenced the politics of family justice.[1. Following protests, some fathers' rights activists have been convicted of offenses such as harassment and assault.[3. Fathers' rights groups have condemned threats and violent acts,[3. Matt O'Connor of Fathers 4 Justice asserting that his organisation was committed to "peaceful, non- violent direct action" and that members caught engaging in intimidation would be expelled.[3. Main issues[edit]Family court system[edit]Stephen Baskerville is an associate professor of political science, president of the American Coalition of Fathers and Children and fathers' rights advocate and defines court- determined custody as not a right to parent one's children but as the power to prevent the other partner from parenting.[3.
Members of the fathers' rights movement state that family courts are biased against fathers and shared custody.[3. Baskerville states that the outcome of divorce is overly one- sided and is initiated by mothers in more than two- thirds of cases – especially when children are involved. He also states that divorce provides advantages for women such as automatic custody of the children and financial benefits in the form of child support payments.[4.
Members of the FR movement also state that family courts are slow to help fathers enforce their parental rights[4. Baskerville has also stated that family courts are secretive, censoring and punitive towards fathers who criticize them.[3. He also claims that employees and activists within the courts support and benefit from the separation of children from their parents[4. Others[who?] contest these conclusions, stating that family courts are biased in favor of fathers[citation needed] and that the lower percentage of separated fathers as custodial parents is a result of choices made by fathers rather than bias of family courts.[4.
According to sociologist Michael Flood, father's rights activists have exaggerating the disparity in custody awards between mothers and fathers, and ignored the fact that in the vast majority of cases, fathers voluntarily relinquish custody of their children through private arrangements; either because they are willing to do so, or because they do not expect a favorable court ruling.[4. Shared parenting[edit]Stating that "children need two parents" and that "children have a fundamental human right to an opportunity and relationship with both their mother and father", members of the fathers’ rights movement call for greater equality in parental responsibility following separation and divorce.[4. They call for laws creating a rebuttable presumption of 5.
They point to studies showing that children in shared custody settings are better adjusted and have fewer social problems such as low academic achievement, crime, pregnancy, substance abuse, depression and suicide,[4. Warren Farrell states that for children, equally shared parenting with three conditions (the child has about equal time with mom and dad, the parents live close enough to each other that the child does not need to forfeit friends or activities when visiting the other parent, and there is no bad- mouthing) is the second best family arrangement to the intact two- parent family, followed by primary father custody and then primary mother custody, and he adds that if shared parenting cannot be agreed upon, children on average are better off psychologically, socially, academically, and physically, have higher levels of empathy and assertiveness, and lower levels of ADHD, if their father is their primary custodial parent rather than their mother.[1. Members of the fathers' rights movement and their critics disagree about the correlation of negative developmental outcomes for children to sole custody situations.
Social scientist V.