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Fathers. Jem Thomas Social Science in the City Tart Café Thursday 8 th December 2011. What is it you don’t have……if you don’t have a father?. The Politics of Fathering. That question has become one of the most intensely political questions of our times. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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FathersJem Thomas
Social Science in the City
Tart Café
Thursday 8th December 2011
What is it you don’t have……if you don’t have a father?
The Politics of Fathering
That question has become one of the most intensely political questions of our times.
It’s not just on the political right
New Labour introduced something like 23 separate bits of legislation that touch on
fathers or fatheringThe Children Act (1989, 2004) The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families
(DH, 2000) The National Service Framework for Children, Young People & Maternity
Services (DH/DfES, 2004) Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) Routine postnatal care of women and their babies (NIHCE, 2006) The Equality Act (2006) Maternity Matters (DH, 2007) The Children’s Centre Practice/Planning/Performance Management
Guidance (DfES, 2006; 2007) Every Parent Matters (HM Treasury, 2007) Aiming High for Children (HM Treasury/DfES, 2007) Teenage Parenting Strategy & Guidance (DCSF, 2007; 2008) + Teenage
Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group Annual Report (2008) The Children’s Plan (DCSF, 2007) 2020 Children and Young People’s Workforce Strategy (DCSF 2008) The Child Health Promotion Programme Update (DH, 2008) SCIE guidelines for supporting parents (2008) The Welfare Act (2009) The Childcare Strategy (DWP, HM Treasury, DCSF, Cabinet Office, 2009) Healthy lives, brighter futures: the strategy for children and young
people’s health (DCSF, DH, 2009) Getting Maternity Services Right for teenage mothers and young fathers
DH, DCSF, 2009) Support for All (Green Paper on families) (DCSF, 2010) Teenage Pregnancy Strategy: beyond 2010 (DCSF, DH, 2010) Maternity and Early Years: making a good start to family life (DH, DCSF,
2010) Parenting and Family Support: guidance for Local Authorities in
England (DCSF, 2010)
The sheer scale of household change in recent times. Away from “tradition”.
In the USA around 40% of children will spend some part of their childhood without their fathers - but proportions change strikingly by ethnicity and
by class:White 28%Hispanic 39%Black 69% Income > $75,000 18%
Income $40,001-$75,000 28%Income $25,001-$40,000 44%
Income < $25,000 63%Source: DeBell, Social Indicators Research 2008
Families with Dependent Children at Home – the UK
(Source: Office of National Statistics, 2001 census; 2011 census data not available until 2013)
Type Number (‘000) % of Total
Married parent families 4,200 58.0
Other families (of which:) 3,000 42.0
a. Cohabiting parents 500 6.9
b. Married stepfamilies 380 5.2
c. Unmarried stepfamilies 310 4.3
d. Lone mother 1,700 23.6
e. Lone father 180 2.5
Total stepfamilies 690 9.58
Total lone parent families 1,880 26.1
Stepfamilies + lone mothers 2,390 33.1
UK Families
Married parent families
a. Cohabiting parents
b. Married stepfamilies
c. Unmarried stepfamiliesd. Lone mother
e. Lone father
A link too with poverty
David Cameron on July’s riots, speaking on the 15th August
“Irresponsibility. Selfishness. Behaving as if your choices have no consequences. Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without effort. Crime without punishment. Rights without responsibilities. Communities without control.”
Australian journalist Miranda Devine commented, “You only had to see the burning streets of London last week to see the manifestation of a fatherless society. The collapse of family life in Britain has been laid bare, reported to have the highest proportion of single mothers in Europe and nearly half of all children suffering family breakdown by the age of 16. Fatherless families in underprivileged boroughs of London are the norm. “
(Sydney Daily Telegraph)
I’m not convinced…(a)
The data point to a complex of problems; fatherlessness is just one bit.
Poverty, unemployment, alcohol & drugs, educational failure, incarceration……
“St Giles’ Rookery”
I’m not convinced… (b)5 or younger 6-10 11-15 Young Adult
Mother always was alone
1 2 3 4
Father has died 5 6 7 8
Parents separated or divorced
9 10 11 12
Stepfather present
13 14 15 16
Another carer there
17 18 19 20
“Holding” – the ‘traditional’ view
“Dads”
Some pioneers of thought about mothering
The idea of the “third”The father comes between between mother and child – setting up a new web of relationships…
…who leads the child into the wider world
So; where does that leave us? Do we need fathers? If so, what for?
Emotions around fathering
A time to mourn?
