November 15th, 2011 by Glenn Sacks
Best-selling author and Sports Illustrated columnist Jeff Pearlman
Sports Illustrated columnist Jeff Pearlman has written several best-selling sports books, and is perhaps best known as the author of an infamous interview with John Rocker in 2000. Earlier this year there was a war of words between Pearlman and our Board Member Robert Franklin, Esq. over a piece Pearlman wrote on fathers.
In Pearlman’s original CNN piece, A father’s day wish: Dads, wake the hell up! (6/17/11) he asserts that American fathers aren’t doing enough parenting. Franklin fired back at Pearlman here, stating:
Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey that shows that, when paid and unpaid work are added together, men and women do essentially identical amounts. Men do more paid work, women do more domestic work including childcare. No one’s the slave, no one’s the master, and no one has his feet up while the other toils.
He would have found that women are far more likely than men to hold no paying job, if they do have one it’s far more likely to be part-time and even when they work full-time, women still work fewer hours than men who do. What all that means is that it’s men’s paid work that allows mothers to stay home with the kids. Pearlman disdains that, but someone has to pay the rent.
Pearlman didn’t like Franklin’s criticism, responding here. But while Pearlman and Franklin aren’t likely to be enjoying a beer together any time soon, of much more importance is that during the scuffle Pearlman praised Fathers and Families and explained his support for Equal Parenting. Pearlman wrote:
Lastly, on a personal note—I love groups like the one Robert Franklin, Esq. belongs to. Read the website … scan the links. I’m being serious—the idea of equal parenting is wonderful, and great, and I’m as loud a proponent as you’ll find.
Which is great to hear, but not surprising–research clearly shows that the overwhelming majority of the public believe in shared parenting and oppose the sole custody for mom regime that is still the norm. Fathers and Families is taking using that public sentiment to build a strong, well-funded advocacy organization that is taking on the special interest groups which have blocked equality and fairness in family court.