Every third Sunday of June, the Father’s daycommemoration that arose in 1909when the American Sonora Smart Dodd was inspired by listening to the reverend’s sermon in church about the Mother’s dayto question the lack of a Father’s day. Having had the example of how his father, Lieutenant Henry Jackson Smart, a veteran of the Civil warhe took care of his daughters and sons when his wife died giving birth to their sixth child, despite the lack of a maternal figure, in the Sonora family there was no need for love, affection, education or care , decided to start a movement to give visibility to the importance of parents in the social fabric and to remember that creating a home it is not a one-sided task exclusively for women.
With this inspiring background about this holiday, this week I happened to hear in the elevators of the offices where I work a colleague who looked radiant when talking about having enjoyed the 3 months of paternity leave granted by the Power of attorney since the administration of the then minister president Arturo Zaldivar, to care for her newborn. In addition to sharing that he has had the opportunity to mingle with his wife, the license for both of them to have the responsibility and joy of creating a family. For me, this was a clear example that things in the country are evolving in terms of equality and well-being.
In my dad’s time paternity leave they were not an option; the stereotypes that the father It must be the provider and that the mothers they were the caregivers par excellence were more entrenched, in addition to the fact that the cultural prohibition that men have to express their feelings was even more radical. Imagine the repression our parents felt for not complying with these canons, who would they talk to? What support network did they have for their doubts? Consequently, the mothers in general they have been closer with their daughters and sons; Mine was my confidant, a relationship that I have learned to rebuild with my father now that she is gone, and a situation in which I have found a more vulnerable and sentimental side in my father that I was not used to.
Just like me, compañeras and compañeros of my generation have parents who have suffered the prejudices of a time when male figures were limited in their ability to live together and establish deeper relationships. We have built social structures that they did a lot of damage to our own parents and to the social fabric itself. For centuries they have been taught that their place is outside the home and that their worth lies in their ability to provide financially. Fortunately, today things are changing, we have learned from the lessons of the past and we see more and more parents eager to enjoy time with their newborns and with their daughters and sons as they grow up.
In Mexico he Mother’s day it is a symbolic day and loaded with meaning; However the Father’s day still fighting for the same recognition. I invite you to start changing the social narrative and move forward in the fight to create a country of mothers and fatherswhere both are celebrated with the same enthusiasm, since it is proven that both can give the same love and care.
If we want to advance in a more prosperous and egalitarian country, we have to not only address the problems in question of the mothersbut also of the parents, in order to walk towards a real equality and a Mexico of well-being. There is still a long way to go to promote better paternity. Although it is true that paternity leave is a great step, the importance of raising awareness, of having public policies that promote shared responsibilities, and of having our long-awaited care system will help to balance the balance so that both father and mother take responsibility for future boys and girls and therefore strengthen the family in Mexico.
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