I read a very interesting piece on the plight of divorce dads. Basically the writer says that men are unfairly treated by the courts when it comes to divorce. She believes that the unfair treatment stems from the fact that women are almost always awarded custody in divorce cases, something that can been seen as an injustice in and of itself.

This is in spite of the fact that studies "show children want and need both parents, and no studies show sole parenting by a mother serves children's best interests." She feels that this is especially unfair, since women are twice as likely to initiate a divorce then their male counterparts which means that men end up losing their children in a divorce they did not initiate and in most cases did not want.

I have to admit when I started reading this article I was sure I was going to be outraged against the author, but I find myself having to agree with her. There is one clarification I would make about who initiates divorce. While women may be the ones actually filing for divorce in many cases it is the husband giving her the reason to file. For example, it is pretty well accepted that if you cheat on your spouse and are caught, divorce will follow. A husband who cheats on his wife and is found out may not want to divorce her, but he should have seen it coming. However, other than that one minor point I do agree with the rest of her article.

I believe the reasons for the disparity stem from a patriarchal society. There are two beliefs at play. One is that men and women have automatic gender roles. The second is that women obviously need men to care for them, so only the most desperate of women would divorce their husbands. Therefore, he must have done something really awful for her to divorce him. This leads to a judicial system that may be called "no fault", but in reality is set out to punish the man in question for being such a horrible husband. If we want true gender equality, then we have no choice but to get rid of the idea of automatic custody and find a fairer, more equitable solution. The rest, I believe, will follow.

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