The role of a Father in History 2017/03/17

Father: a man who has begotten one or more children.

Dad: father, a familiar and loving voice

These are definitions taken from a common dictionary.

But, who is this figure and what role did he have in history?

To understand it, I want to take you on a virtual trip through the centuries, starting from far far away: 3 million years ago.

Hominid men lived in packs and had to compete to establish the leader who had all the rights over the group, included women. Only time later they realized that all of them could procreate with the same partner and give food and shelter to the children they begotten.

In the time of the Greeks, it was believed that only men could generate offspring when conceived with women. The female figure was considered a little more than a slave, with obligation to satisfy the partner, and their work was to wet-nurse or race the children.

In Ancient Rome, the father raised the children and had to recognize them at birth with a small ritual: he had to take care of them in the square in front of his fellow citizens, he also had the right of life or death over the newborn, he could reject them if they were a woman or if they presented a disability. Emperor Justinian declared that legitimate offspring were those who were born inside a marriage, thrusting the idea of a family formed by husband, wife and children.

With the dissemination of Christianity, the father figure was displayed to a second place in Joseph’s figure, who accepts the imposed paternity and pays attention on the Mother and the Son. The Son seats at the right-side of the Father indicates how these figures are considered equals, which was unthinkable before. Jesus, when not turning into a parent, interrupts the Roman Father’s tradition. Let’s remember that Christianity had been persecuted for a long time during the Roman Times.

In the Middle Ages, the man “master/boss” left her wife during pregnancy as if it was a contagious disease and didn’t feel the moral duty of being with her. He waited to know the sex of the fetus in the moment of birth, cursing it if it were a woman.

Industrial revolution represented another important element: before, children in general, grew up learning the job of the father and carrying it with pride. With the advent of ‘machines’ for work, many children went out to work for the first industries. The family suffered a great crisis of values: on one side, children were in contact with new masculine figures, as the employer, and tried to follow this model and, on the other side, the ‘lonely’ father who suffers damage in his pride for not being able to transmit his knowledge.

The world wars divided families. The absence of the fathers called to fight generated a profound discomfort which wouldn’t go away even when they were back home. The ideas of educators like Maria Montessori, started to come up when she underlined how the lack of parents during the war is devastating for children.

Today, our modern fathers actively participate in their children’s activities since pregnancy and follow them step step along their lives.

So let’s celebrate all the fathers, not only on the day of their party, but also the other 364 days of the year.