Fathers' Rights and Patriarchy: Explaining how the patrarchal system deprives male parental righ
Patriarchy does not just affect women in a negative way.
The modern-day patriarchal society is a remnant from years passed.
Up until 150 years ago, it was understood that a woman's place was within the home and a man's place was to work and provide for the family. This is the most basic definition of patriarchy that I can think of.
In 2016 women are still fighting to break the patriarchal system, but so are men. The system that men set up, arguably before written history, has come back to bite us. Traditionally men are not seen as nurturing or the primary care provider.
The male dominated system has written laws that keep men from being in their children's lives. Because the men who wrote these laws did not participate in day to day care for their children, they believed that no other men could.
With laws such as "The Dead-Beat Dad Act," we have literally written into law that a man should be married to a woman and support the child or pay an exorbitant amount of money in child support for minimal visitation.
In Ohio, standard order visitation is a total of 108 hours per month. Every Wednesday from 6pm until 9pm and every other weekend Friday at 6pm to Sunday at 6pm. This sounds like a lot of time at first, but it breaks down to 4.5 days a month.
This is not sufficient time to parent. This minuscule amount of time qualifies you as a baby sitter who has to pay for the child. This is not to discourage men from pursuing to be in their children's lives, but a reminder that the system is stacked against you.
This system is not women's fault, this is a patriarchal law that was set in place men. As a single father I understand the anger and anguish associated with a custody battle. The gravity of being told you only get your child for X amount of time. It is easy to fall into a women blaming mentality, but this is not the proper way to attack this problem.
The bureaucracy, which is our CPS system and the juvenile court system in The U.S., will not be "torn down" by Fathers' Rights activists or lawyers alone. Until we except the reality that this system is part of the patriarchal system and work together, Feminists and Fathers' rights advocates alike, we will keep perpetuating the same circular arguments while the system robs good parents of all genders their fundamental right to be a parent.
(Article by Jaimes Campbell)