Box 1: ‘New fatherhood’ movements in the US

Here we give a brief summary (dealt with by Williams et al, 2001) of the recent history of ‘new fatherhood’ movements in the US, which is useful for providing a context for similar movements that have sprung up in other countries. While these movements grew out of the activities of separated fathers in the 1970s, a milestone came in 1994, the year when Vice President Al Gore maintained in a public speech that the social crisis in the country was caused by estrangement between fathers and children, a consequence of children born outside marriage and of divorce. The fact that 90% of children remain with the mother after divorce and many lose contact with the father became even more visible and problematic. In 1995 President Clinton asked all government agencies to review their programme so as to strengthen the role of the father in families. Three main movements developed during these years:

Father Involvement Program: the objective of this programme is to ‘bring fathers back home’ so that they can provide for the family financially. The existence of domestic violence is recognised, but attributed to the men's feeling of powerlessness (due to unemployment, poverty and so on).

Responsible Fatherhood Groups: the objective of these groups is to make men more responsible as husbands and fathers. These groups consider the absence of the biological father to be a disaster and encourage traditional marriage. When they admit the existence of domestic violence, they attribute it to society and the loss of traditional values, as well as immutable male biological characteristics. Since male aggressiveness is inborn, the presence of women and children is essential to absorb it and soften it. They actively promote the practice of family mediation in divorces as a tool to maintaining family ties. Many groups form part of Responsible Fatherhood Groups, all of them conservative: the Institute for American Values, the National Fatherhood Initiative and the National Congress for Fathers and Families. This last promoted a measure to oblige unmarried mothers to name the father of the child; otherwise they are deprived of state financial support.