Society has changed significantly over the past 50 years, so there is a world of difference between yesterday’s father and today’s father.
Several social and economic changes have redefined parental roles since the 1960s. Among these are the emancipation of women and their professional investments, the growing rate of separations and divorces — and at the same time, single-parent families as well as the affirmation of homoparental families. Paternal involvement has therefore been redefined through various social upheavals.
In an article published in the magazine Reflets, social worker Josée St-Denis and social service professor Nérée St-Amand traced the evolution of the role of fathers. At the time of the Quiet Revolution, when industrialization was gaining ground, the father lost his role of “pedagogue-advisor”, note the researchers. Moreover, artists like Elvis Presley challenged the traditional image of fathers. “Men now have the opportunity to look like something other than the traditional father, hard-working, rigid and distant; and children’s expectations of their father are changing radically,” they point out, quoting various observers.
A better balance
In 1977, the notion of paternal authority was replaced by that of parental authority. This change came at a time when more women entered the labor market. In addition, the lower birth rate, later parenthood, accessibility to divorce and the large-scale use of contraceptive methods have also changed the situation.
The emancipation of women also benefited men, who increasingly rejected certain sexual stereotypes. “The man is no longer a simple provider who supports a wife in his charge, he is no longer the distant patriarch of yesteryear”, argued sociologist Germain Dulac in 1992. Over the years, the The father’s position of control and predominant authority has changed: the “new father” is closer to his children from an early age. And he invests more in the family dynamic.
However, contradictions remain regarding the commitment of the father. “A large number of children are deprived of any ongoing relationship with the father following the separation of their parents,” noted sociologist Gérard Neyrand in 2002. Work-family balance has also been — and still is — a major issue for men, this principle being variable in geometry from one company to another. In 2008, the Family and Children’s Council referred to an “often rigid work organization, an inflexible schedule composed almost exclusively of full time and overtime to be accumulated”.
parental leave
Society increasingly values paternity leave, allowing new fathers to form meaningful bonds with their children from the first weeks. Since 2006, Quebec has granted five weeks of leave to new fathers. If few of them availed themselves of this right at the beginning (approximately 20%), today they are in the majority (approximately 90%) to take this leave. Most recently, in January 2023, the Administrative Court of Quebec won the case of two fathers who fought to each obtain five weeks of paternity leave after having recourse to a surrogate mother. However, voices are being raised to increase the length of this leave — as is the case in other countries — and, at the same time, reduce the imbalance with regard to parental responsibilities.