We can't afford a fatherless nation

IF FAMILIES truly thrived and functioned well outside the presence and participation of men in the family structure, would creation and evolution have designed reproduction differently?

- ZAMAYIRHA PETER

From the genesis and formation of life and a biological standpoint, women need to procreate with men to form a foetus. Men can continue to father children throughout their lives, unlike women, who have a limited fertile window.

Biology may make fathers indispensable for conception, but what about upbringing? Contemporary data suggests their ongoing presence matters just as much. While children may come into the world through the procreation of two, they ultimately are born into and for a community. The quality of the father is not absent from the contributions and the environment in which the father finds themselves or chooses.

According to the 3rd State of South Africa's Fathers Report (SOSAF 2024), launched in February 2025, in 2023, only 35.6% of South African children lived with their biological fathers in the same household, and 40.3% lived with men who were not their biological fathers (Ratele et al., 2024, released February 2025).

The question begs, when not in their homes raising their kids, where are the men, and what of culture and society has condoned this from inside the families of the fathers, their social circles and even places of work and socialisation?