Responsibilities, challenges of Fathers and families

Article: Salome Donkor
Families all over the world have been undergoing significant changes. Among these changes are shifts from the extended family to the nuclear family; increased participation of women, including mothers, in the labour force; smaller family sizes; and increased instances of divorce and remarriage after divorce.
Other changes to families include increases in births outside marriage, female-headed households and non-residential fatherhood.
The presentations of various speakers at a seminar in Accra, as well as contributions from the dignitaries who attended the seminar to mark this year’s International Day of Families, which fell on Thursday, May 15, highlighted the effects of these changes. The theme for the celebration was “Fathers and families, responsibilities and challenges”.
The seminar brought together some members of the clergy, chiefs and queens, representatives from Curious Minds, a children’s rights organisation, and the security services.
It offered the participants a platform for the exchange of ideas, resulting in frank and open discussions about who should take the blame for the seeming breakdown of the family system.
While men were criticised for neglecting their responsibilities as fathers, mothers were also admonished for failing in the performance of important responsibilities and special duties, with children receiving the knock for exhibiting disobedience.
The family, the core of society, has been identified as the basic and most fundamental unit of society which is crucial to the survival and progress of society. It is also an important vehicle for transmitting the education and culture of society from one generation to another.
Today, the hustle and bustle of life in urban areas has overwhelmed most parents who are unable to discharge their responsibilities and maintain a viable family. This has resulted in numerous social problems such as child neglect, streetism, teenage pregnancy, early marriages and divorce, child delinquency and child labour.
Being the head of the family, the responsibilities that rest on fathers are enormous and they need to exhibit a strong presence in family life, and to buttress this point, the theme for this year’s International Day of Families was chosen to focus on the important role fathers play in the lives of families and children. In resolution 47/237 of September 20, 1993, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that May 15 of every year shall be observed as the International Day of Families.
In many families and cultures, the roles and responsibilities of fathers with respect to their children has changed over time. In many societies, the traditional responsibilities and role of the father were that of moral teacher, disciplinarian, male role model and breadwinner. Fathers exhibited a strong presence in family life, though not necessarily through direct or heavy involvement in child-rearing.
A message from the United Nations Secretary-General, read by the Country Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, acknowledged that recent research has affirmed the positive impact of the active involvement by fathers in the development of their children.
It, however, said too many men have difficulty assuming the responsibilities of fatherhood, often with damaging consequences to families and inevitably society at large.
It said some fathers indulge in domestic violence or even sexual abuse, devastating families and creating profound physical and emotional scars in children, while others abandon their families outright and fail to provide support.
For her part, the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, indicated that building the capacity and resilience of families to avoid the break-up of the family system would be an important contribution to the development of the country.
She said over the years, Ghana had committed itself to promoting the interest of its young ones, adding that this manifested in her being the first country to ratify the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child, while another national strategic plan of action, which identifies the various sectoral interventions required for sustainable child welfare in the areas of education, health, water and sanitation and poverty reduction strategies, have been put in place.
She said all these policies and interventions of government are geared towards ensuring a strong and viable family and that fathers live up to their responsibilities to promote the survival of families.
Mr Ian McFarlane, Deputy Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said in planning good family values, families need to think of the number of children to have, and use modern methods of contraceptives to protect themselves, space births and produce the number of children they can effectively cater for.
Speaking from the perspective of the church, Reverend Dei Awuku of the Atomic Hills Estate Presbyterian Church said the family was one of God’s institutions and it behoved all those who cherish peace to hold the family dear to their hearts and avoid things that impede the progress of the family.
He acknowledged that various research by some social scientists had shown that fathers had challenges in the performance of their duties but advised them to continually reach out to God for wisdom to accomplish their tasks.
Mrs Jane Adu of Women Refuge and Child Survival Africa, a non-governmental organisation, dwelt on the fallen moral standards among the youth and questioned what had happened to the families where these children were expected to be trained.
She said it was obvious that most of the adults who were to teach the children lacked the knowledge to do so and the children were disillusioned.
She called for good relationships between children and their parents and also advised mothers to give their children sex and family life education, stressing that much as children need to obey adults, both fathers and mothers had the onerous responsibility to show love and protection to children to provide them with holistic training and give them hope and empowerment.
During an open forum, most of the participants who blamed fathers for neglecting their responsibilities called for the institution of child support schemes as pertained in the developed countries to compel fathers who neglect their responsibilities to pay an amount from their incomes towards the upkeep of their families.
It is obvious that these challenges all highlight the deep and universal need for positive father figures in families. As our understanding of fatherhood grows, there is an opportunity for men to re-envision imaginatively what it means to be a father and to see opportunities to make a difference in the family.
The church, government and the society at large all have respective roles to play to create a conducive environment for fathers to perform their roles responsibly.