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The Politics of Fatherhood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2003

Stephen Baskerville
Affiliation:
political science at Howard University and is the author of Not Peace but a Sword: The Political Theology of the English Revolution (Routledge 1993). His interests are in political theory and gender politics. He can be reached by email at [email protected]

Abstract

Fatherhood is rapidly becoming the number one social policy issue in America. President Bill Clinton stated in 1995 that “the single biggest social problem in our society may be the growing absence of fathers from their children's homes, because it contributes to so many other social problems.” In 1997, Congress created task forces to promote fatherhood, and in 1998 the governors' and mayors' conferences followed. President George W. Bush recently unveiled a $315 million dollar package for “responsible fatherhood.” Nonprofit organizations such as the National Fatherhood Initiative were formed in the mid-1990s. Fatherhood was seen as the most serious social problem by almost 80% of respondents to a 1996 Gallup poll (NFI 1996, 1).

Type
FEATURES
Copyright
© 2002 by the American Political Science Association

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