Gender Biases in Child Welfare

Abstract

Gender biases are pervasive in child welfare research and practice. Although these biases have been addressed to some extent in the literature, there continues to be a lack of information on fathers and an overrepresentation of information on mothers, and thus the biases continue. This article explores how these biases are currently manifested in both research and practice and makes recommendations for changes in research, policy, and practice.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Resident Mothers and the Moral Dilemmas they Face During Custody Disputes

“…As a consequence, ''there is one set of expectations for mothers and another less demanding set for fathers'' (Chesler 1991, p. 410). The fact that we hold fathers to much lower standards is especially evidenced by the continued construction of violent men as 'good enough' fathers, except in instances where they have committed egregious and proven violence against their children (Boyd 2003;Chesler 1991;Collier 2006;Douglas and Walsh 2010;Eriksson and Hester 2001;Kaspiew 2007;Harrison 2008;Rhoades 2002;Risley-Curtiss and Heffernan 2003;Smart and Neale 1999b). Although further discussion of this double standard is obviously warranted, such a discussion is beyond the scope of this article.…”

Voices in thread: Women's childhood experiences of a primary caregiver that remained in a relationship with an alleged or known sex offender, an arts-based inquiry.

“…consciously or unconsciously encouraged incestuous relationships between father and child or, at the very least, fail to protect once they become aware o f the abuse (Herman, 2000;Humphrey, 1994;Lev-Wiesel, 2006;Tinling, 1990). The "failure to protect" concept appears to be applied solely to mothers and is immersed in gender biases and mother-blaming as the construction of a regulatory regime (Risley-Curtiss & Heffeman, 2003).…”

“…Mothers of sexually abused children have been overgeneralized and often described as the cornerstone in the pathological family system and labelled as silent, dysfunctional, neurotic, self-absorbed, immoral, and culpable colluders (Lev-Wiesel, 2006;Risley-Curtiss & Heffeman, 2003;Tinling, 1990). The father, as the perpetrator, is viewed as "normatively responding to the mother's failure to assume traditional family roles" (Risley-Curtiss & Heffeman, 2003, p. 4).…”

“…Child protection work is based on the needs and interests of children, but in actuality, the system usually evaluates children's needs based on the mothers' caretaking or mothering ability (Risley-Curtiss & Heffeman, 2003). Patriarchal ideologies about motherhood continues to dominant and influence child welfare research and practice which often accommodates the use of mother-blaming (Humphrey, 1994;Risley-Curtiss & Heffeman, 2003).…”

“…The theory permeating much of Western societal beliefs is that the mother's behaviour directly, and exclusively, affects the child's behaviour (Risley-Curtiss & Heffeman, 2003). To serve children and families best, this situation must change.…”