Fatherhood Movements

Fatherhood movements have evolved in response to unprecedented changes in family demography and the “family values” debate that centers on the issue of family structure. These changes include the increase in unwed childbearing and divorce and their impact on the role of fathers in children's lives. In the 1990s, a grassroots fatherhood movement, and then a marriage movement, emerged in the United States. Movement participants strive to improve child well-being by strengthening fatherhood, improving the quality and stability of the institution of marriage, and reducing unwed childbearing and divorce rates. Fatherhood movements encompass a wide ideological spectrum from conservative, anti-feminist, “father-power” groups, to pro-feminist “responsible fathers” groups.

The current separation of U.S. fathers from their children is historically unprecedented. In 1960, father-absent families numbered 10 million in the United States; today the number stands at 24 million. For the first time, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, less than a quarter of the nation's households are made up of married couples with children. The U.S. divorce rate more than doubled between 1965 and 1980 and [Page 284]remains the highest in the world; an estimated 40 percent to 50 percent of all marriages now end in separation or divorce, affecting more than 1 million children annually. There has also been a dramatic upsurge in unwed childbearing: After remaining below 5 percent for decades, the proportion of births that occurred out of wedlock rose 600 percent from 1960 to 2000. Single-mother families constitute 7 percent of all households and grew at a rate five times faster than that of nuclear families during the 1990s. The proportion of unwed births has begun to plateau at record annual highs of 1.3 million and 33 percent respectively, and births to unmarried parents have now overtaken divorce as the primary cause of father absence. Research indicates that unmarried fathers, through divorce or unwed fathering, tend over time to become financially and psychologically disconnected from their children. Approximately 40 percent of children in father-absent homes have not seen their fathers in at least a year, and more than half of all children who do not live with their father have never been in their fathers' homes. This entry describes various types of fatherhood movements.