Even in the modern world, there are more stay at home moms than stay at home dads so, that accounts for some of the advantage. Status as a “primary caregiver” does get favorable treatment. Even in the modern world, women more commonly work on a schedule that is conducive to parenting; eg. getting home and picking the kids up before dinner. Men work longer hours outside the home on average and that accounts for a great deal of the disparity between fathers and mothers winning custody.
There are also certain occupations which lend themselves to custody. These are occupations where the parent works only while the children are at school or sleeping. For example, some nurses often work from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. three days of the week. Teachers are at work while the children are at school and off work when they are not. Those occupations traditionally employ a greater percentage of women than men. Once again, accounting for some of the disproportions.
So, even if we objectively view the roles of men and women as shifting, they simply are not moving a fast enough pace to ensure that fathers have enough access to their children because the dominant narrative has not changed. Now, I have a problem with adhering to the status quo – always have, always will. Let’s trouble the idea of women being at an unfair advantage in custody proceedings, because as stated, it comes as a result of a system of patriarchy. And so since the role of women has changed in the sense that they have entered the workforce in droves, are becoming increasingly educated and are no longer being confined to the bounds of motherhood, the home, or the full-time role of cook, cleaner and laundry-doer, [and please note that I’m not one to say that there’s anything inherently wrong with doing any of the aforementioned, so long as it is a woman’s choice to do so] – some are still clinging on to the notion that women should be the primary decision-makers in the lives of their children.
