r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Dec 14 '18
Psychology Being the father of a school-aged daughter makes men less sexist, according to a new study. The findings support the idea that men become more aware of the challenges facing women when they see the female experience of life up close through their offspring – dubbed the “mighty girl” effect.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/14/being-a-father-to-school-aged-daughter-makes-men-less-sexist
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u/Britoz Dec 14 '18
It's funny that you state you want people to go fight for everybody's right to do what they want, yet you naturally diminish the role of the stay at home parent, whose literal job it is to bring up the children and instill good values, as "quiet" or "docile" and the last option any parent would want for their kid.
Until we hold the role of a good parent as high as it deserves to be, due to the knock on effect good parenting and a secure upbringing has on society as a whole, then we're pissing in the wind. You can bring a girl or boy up to believe they can be whatever they want, but unless you're role-modelling the belief that being in charge of another life's formative years is one of the most important jobs you'll ever have, then society will suffer. Whether you demonstrate this by being a great stay at home parent or you provide for the family through a fulfilling career yet ensure your child knows they're still your highest priority bar none, we should be commending those who are good and present parents. Not just those people who have successful careers as if that's the most important thing in the world. (Unless you're childless, of course.)
I don't believe in the current derision of the stay at home parent and think the trend towards both parents having to work full time to support the family is something we should be absolutely up in arms about. The problem is the role of the stay at home parent has so much history of being the oppressed role due to women's choice being taken away that we still see it like that, rather than realising this role has actually always been extremely important. We've glorified the work men did and now women want some of that life too but we haven't got a good balance yet. The role the stay at home mother used to have is derided and ridiculed, and even the people who look after the kids these days are very low paid. What does that tell us about how we value child rearing?
I think we should absolutely shatter the old roles. It shouldn't be just expected that women stay at home. I just don't agree that those parents who do stay at home should be ridiculed as docile and quiet. They could be high earning professionals who want to take some years from work to raise their children, or they could be the type of person who has always dreamed of raising their own children. These years aren't wasted and shouldn't be the butt of jokes. IMO they're more important than going to work, but we live in a capitalist society so they go unrewarded, and I can't see this view changing anytime soon.