As is custom, ‘fathers’ are another sub group of men, who are seemingly held to a higher level of accountability than many of their female counterparts. Specifically, I am talking about the concept of “deadbeats”; which is a pejorative term routinely, and often rightly, assigned to noncustodial fathers, who don’t pay child support. And again, like most of these newly fangled modern terms, they are mindlessly flung around like frisbees, with little consideration or concern for whom is hit by them. You see it splashed across headlines. You hear it blabbered about by politicians. You see it scrawled onto placards, and yelled about in comment sections. “Deadbeat dads will have nowhere to hide!” You’ll hear, read, or see, again and again, as society demands men take yet another large slice from the accountability pie. And I understand much of it. Whilst it’s impossible to know the individual circumstances of these men, or understand why they don’t, or can’t pay what they owe - we do know that around 29% of American fathers who owe it, pay no child support, and that’s far too high. But does such a thing as “deadbeat mums” exist? And if it does, why are they never spoken about in the same breathe? Is it one set of expectations and responsibilities for fathers, and another for mothers? Well let’s take a look at the data from the U.S. Census Bureau, to finally fill in what’s missing from the conversation... What do you think? - U.S. Censur Bureau Data  Images by Kelly Sikkema, Ben Wicks, Samuel Cesar, Codioful, Kiwi Hug, and Getty.

2024-03-19