On 15 June 2008, Barack Obama, then a senator of the USA, visited the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago and gave a Father’s Day speech. During the speech, Obama recounted his own fatherless childhood, the toll that father absence took on him, and the struggles his mother had as a single parent. While acknowledging that many single mothers had done a ‘heroic job’ raising their children, he stressed the critical importance of the father’s involvement in child rearing. ‘[The single mothers] need another parent. Their children need another parent. That’s what keeps their foundation strong. It’s what keeps the foundation of our country strong.’
What Obama said clearly highlighted the benefit of a father’s engagement in parenting for both the child and for the child’s mother. The role of male parents is positively portrayed in the media nowadays. For example, think of how male celebrities’ public image is enhanced through a public presence with their children (e.g. David Beckham). At the same time, however, the increasing number of female-headed households — be it a family with one single mother or two lesbian mothers — makes us wonder whether it is necessary to have a male parent in the house at all. Does the father make a real, significant difference? If he does, what is it about him that matters?
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