Bias Towards Fathers in Children Custody Decisions Essay

Deciding over children custody has always been a divisive, if non an emotion whollyy laden issue. In most cases how invariably, it is not surprising to train that most court decisions tend to award custody disputes in favour of mothers. At first glance, it may catchm that court try outs see mothers as naturally better pargonnts. And there ar not without dandy reasons to think why this is so.Mothers, by right of mere logic, are the ones who find children into the world, and are therefore responsible for carrying and birthing them so it immediately seems that they bequeath naturally do to a greater extent for children throughout their lives in order to cooperate and care for them, inasmuch as they have already done much of this lock months before children even enter the world. But while these reasons are already in themselves truthful, and are thus often taken by judicial courts as sound premises to support custody decisions in party favour of mothers, it endnot be den ied that there are certain deviatees towards get under ones skins that are committed in the process.In many court decisions, it seems axiomatic to say that male persons fathers, that is are not organism given the same amount of esteem and actualization being accorded to female mothers. This piece of music thus argues that there is an existing bias towards fathers in the court remains that determines custody cases. And while there are many observations to support such a claim, it may be penny-pinching to cite at least three. Bias Towards Fathers in Children Custody DecisionsFirst, it is rather logical to surmise that the general perception about fathers and the gender component stereotypes that come with such perception contributes a lot to why mothers are frequently awarded with childrens custody in many court proceedings, specifically during divorce hearings. Men are not now nor have ever been consistently viewed as suitable caregivers. At the very least, they seem not be as nurturing as mothers. Their sole responsibility is to be destined, it seems, to render for their family, and not to specifically nurture children.Thus, children and their mothers exit always have a stronger attachment because mothers spend much more than time caring for the children, whereas the father figure is more often seen to be better suited to be a hardworking, confident, and always providing piece model. Besides, it has been argued that, on identify of their being comparatively unattached both physically and emotionally, divorced fathers are more seeming to be remarried than their female counterparts (Ambert, 2005).Second, statistical records point to an indisputable fact that decisions favoring maternal custody of children reveal a lopsided trend. According to a floor by the Canadian Department of Justice, 75% of divorce cases finalized by a contested hearing resulted in sole maternal custody and only 8% in sole paternal custody (Pulkingham, 1994). Meanwhile, in a more recent finding, it was discovered that in both the United States and Canada, mothers were more presumable to be awarded with childrens physical custody over fathers.It was further said that only 10-12% of children were ordered to live with their fathers a trend which has been observed for many years now (Ambert, 2005). Present trends seem to always favor mothers. In fact, Maccoby, Depner and Mnookin affirm that while practical norms suggest that fathers must keep involved with children after divorce, many parents are not rejecting the idea that children, oddly very young ones, should have their major residence with their mothers (cited in Hetherington and Arasteh, ed, 1998, p. 112).Third, juristic stipulations governing custody disputes also favor mothers more than fathers on account of certain stereotypes as well. One must note that the judicial system was in principle established to look out for the best interests of the transparent as well as those who are unab le to secure base protection of rights for themselves. Who is thus more in need of a judges guidance and assistance than the innocent and naive fully subordinate beings as children? While men are not to be altogether recognized as selfish beings, there are real problems surround their reputation.And it seems that their disgraceful track record pointing to how violent can male persons can become compared to female counterparts at homes and the larger communities alike is becoming more and more patent. In fact, according to the Vancouver Police Department, of the 135 cases of violence and/or intimidation in intimate relations reported to the VPD in the month of July 1996, 88 percent of the suspects were male, and only 12 percent were female (Richard, 1996).In marriages and relationships alike, it seems that sooner or later, men are far more likely than women to get violent or at least get verbally aggressive and threatening with their partners and spouses. These phenomena surely influence, one way or another, the foundation of significant paternal restrictions in dealing with custody disputes. By government agency of Conclusion How Custody Cases Should Be Decided Drawing from the points that the discussions were able to present, this paper concludes with the thought that paternal custody for children evidently suffers from misjudged perspectives involving restrictive gender roles and stereotypes.The factors that were cited all seem to point to this long-known trend. The numbers have been, and I believe will always be in the favour of women that women out of personal indispensability or societal onus will always feel the revolutionize to be more of the parent and provider for their children. But custody cases should be decided not on account of existing gender role assignment or biased stereotypes against the male gender. On the contrary, custody disputes must be decided upon without any compromise to the equal footing apiece parent whether male or fe male must be accorded in the process.Both parents must be accorded with equal time for visitation, residence and pecuniary support inasmuch as both parents are responsible for the well being of their children despite the failure in marital union. Works Cited Ambert, A. (2005). Divorce Facts, Causes and Consequences. Retrieved 08 July 2008, from http//www. vifamily. ca/library/cft/divorce_05. htmlCustody Maccoby, E. , Depner, C. , and Mnookin, R. Custody of Children Following Divorce in Mavis Hetherington and Josephine Arasteh, editors. (1988) Impact of Divorce, Single Parenting and Stepparenting on Children.Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pulkingham, J. (1994) Contested Custody Claims in Canada. Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 9, 73-97. Retrieved 08 July 2008, from http//fathersforlife. org/millar/custody. htm. Richard, C. (1996). Vancouver Police Department, Violence and Intimidation Against Women in Relationships January to July 1996 as compiled by Margaret Deni ke & Agnes Huang (1998). Myths and Realities of Custody and Access. Retrieved 08 July 2008, from http//www. harbour. sfu. ca/freda/reports/myths. htm.