Bias Towards Fathers in Children Custody Decisions Essay

Deciding over children cargo hold has everlastingly been a divisive, if non an emotionally laden issue. In most cases however, it is not surprising to see that most tribunal decisions tend to award detainment disputes in favor of mothers. At first glance, it may seem that royal court judges see mothers as naturally better parents. And on that point are not without unafraid reasons to study why this is so.Mothers, by right of mere logic, are the ones who bring children into the world, and are therefore responsible for carrying and bear them so it immediately seems that they will naturally do much for children throughout their lives in order to serve up and care for them, inasmuch as they have already done much of this work months before children even cypher the world. But tour these reasons are already in themselves truthful, and are thus often taken by judicial courts as sound premises to support custody decisions in favor of mothers, it cannot be denied that there are certain biases towards fathers that are committed in the process.In many court decisions, it seems axiomatic to offer that staminate persons fathers, that is are not being given the same amount of esteem and recognition being accorded to female person mothers. This paper thus argues that there is an existing bias towards fathers in the court system that determines custody cases. And while there are many observations to support such a claim, it may be good to cite at least three. Bias Towards Fathers in Children Custody DecisionsFirst, it is quite logical to surmise that the ecumenic perception about fathers and the sex activity role 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. hands are not now nor have ever been consistently viewed as suitable caregivers. At the actually least, they seem not be as nurturing as mothers. Their sole responsibility is to be destined, it seems, to provide for their family, and not to specifically nurture children.Thus, children and their mothers will always have a stronger attachment because mothers spend much more 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 role model. Besides, it has been argued that, on account of their being relatively unattached both somatogeneticly and emotionally, divorced fathers are more likely to be remarried than their female counterparts (Ambert, 2005).Second, statistical records point to an indisputable accompaniment that decisions favoring enate custody of children reveal a lopsided trend. According to a report 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 observed that in both the United States and Canada, mothers were more likely to be awarded with childrens physical custody over fathers.It was moreover 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 remain involved with children after divorce, many parents are not rejecting the conception that children, particularly very young ones, should have their major residence with their mothers (cited in Hetherington and Arasteh, ed, 1998, p. 112).Third, legal stipulations governing custody disputes also favor mothers more than fathers on account of certain stereotypes as tumesce. One must flyer that the judicial system was in principle established to look out for the best interests of the innocent as well as those who are unable to secure basic protection of rights for themselves. Who is thus more in need of a judges guidance and assistance than the innocent and naive fully subject beings as children? While men are not to be totally recognized as inconsiderate beings, there are real problems surrounding 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 describe 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 before 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 psychiatric hospital of significant paternal restrictions in dealing with custody disputes. By Way 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 want or societal onus will always feel the urge to be more of the parent and provider for their children. But custody cases should be contumacious 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 severally parent whether male or female must be accorded in the process.Both parents mus t be accorded with equal time for visitation, residence and financial 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. hypertext markup languageCustody 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 Denike & Agnes Huang (1998). Myths an d Realities of Custody and Access. Retrieved 08 July 2008, from http//www. harbour. sfu. ca/freda/reports/myths. htm.