Georgia Senator (former) Nancy Schaefer
"A number of qualitative studies have documented how mothers and grandmothers serve as gatekeepers for the father's presence in the child's life, and how institutional practices create barriers, particularly for young fathers (Allen & Doherty, 1995; Wattenberg, 1993). Many of these fathers relinquish involvement, and many who try to stay involved face strong structural and relationship barriers. Among external influences on fathering, the role of the mother has particular salience, since mothers serve as partners and sometimes as gatekeepers in the fatherchild relationship, both inside and outside marriage (De Luccie, 1995) Mother factors in the conceptual model, of course, interact with the coparental relationship, since the mother's personal feelings about the father no doubt influence the coparental relationship. But there is also evidence that, even within satisfactory marital relationships, fathers' involvement with their children, especially young children, is often contingent on the mother's attitudes towards, expectations of, and support for the father, as well as by the extent of her involvement in the labor force (De Luccie, 1995; Simons, Whitbeck, Congar, & Melby, 1990). Marsiglio (1991), using the National Survey of Families and Households data set, found that mothers' characteristics were more strongly correlated with fathers' involvement than fathers' own characteristics were. Indeed, studies have shown that many mothers, both inside and outside marriage, are ambivalent about the fathers' active involvement with their children (Baruch & Barnett, 1986; Cowan & Cowan, 1987). Given the powerful cultural forces that expect absorption by women in their mothering role, it is not surprising that active paternal involvement would threaten some women's identity and sense of control over this central domain of their lives. The evolution of a social consensus on responsible fathering, therefore, will necessarily involve a consensus that responsible mothering means supporting the fatherchild bond."
by: Sydney Watson
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