Denial of Gender Differences in Parenting
Though there have been beneficial changes from the feminist revolution, I am afraid it may be victimizing our children. I have been watching my own profession (veterinary medicine), as it feminizes. Some current classes at veterinary schools in the US have as high as 90% females. Last year, the gender balance nationwide for graduate veterinarians tipped in favor of women. One is prone to say it is better for the profession because women are more compassionate and nurturing. I would agree they probably are better veterinarians in many aspects.
In my capacity as Professional Outreach Director for Christian Veterinary Mission the last 5 years, I have traveled across the nation networking and recruiting for our organization. In case after case, I found myself interacting with disillusioned, married women professionals whose conscience cries, "Be a Mom!", but whose profession says, "Be the best you can be, motherhood is no hindrance to your practice!" In most cases, they find themselves the primary wage earner. I continue to hear of pragmatic approaches to parenting, with the most common being the stay-at-home Dad.
Dr. Bradford Wilcox, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Virginia, has confronted this very issue that he calls the "androgynous impulse" and its effect on parenting. His article in Nov 2005 Touchstone Magazine is called Reconconcilable Differences: What Social Sciences Show About the Complementarity of Sexes and Parenting.
He claims that both father and mother possess sex-specific gifts for parenting. He says, "society should build on these gifts by letting each sex take the lead where it excels. This naturally flies in the face of the "androgynous impulse".
As far as distinctive talents of moms, Wilcox addresses a real no-brainer for starters-- breast-feeding. The medical benefits of breast-feeding are well documented. Breast-fed infants are protected from at least 11 serious ailments, as well as being less likely to succumb to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Next he suggests that moms excel in interpreting body language and verbal cues of infants and toddlers, like distinguishing a cry of pain from a cry for attention.
Fathers excel at discipline, play, encouraging adventurous behavior, and teaching children to endure pain and hardship to attain a goal.
A controversial aspect of Dr. Wilcox’s research addressed the problems kids raised without fathers face. Boys without engaged dads are likely to demonstrate overly aggressive behavior that he calls "compensatory masculinity". The findings for fatherless girls showed that they are more likely to be sexually active at an early age.
All of this drives home the fact that God created man and woman with distinctive parenting roles, and child rearing is a much more blessed endeavor when each fulfill their God-given role. Part of a biblical worldview is seeing the complementarity of sexes in parenting as a testimony to His glory.
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