Man’s Rightful Role

● Trouble began for the human race when the first man Adam failed to hold to his rightful role as head of the family and yielded to the voice of his wife. Trouble still continues for mankind because fathers have not kept to their rightful role as head of the family, a Washington psychiatrist recently stated. Dr. John R. Cavanagh, as reported in the New York Times of March 14, 1956, called on fathers to “resume” their “rightful role” as head of the family. “Man must accept this responsibility for which he was designated by God and nature,” he said. Many wives, he observed, need help in making decisions that the “inadequate, dependent men of this generation” are not able or not willing to provide. Describing the plight of many of today’s families, the psychiatrist said: “When man abdicated his responsibility in the home he forced his wife into a position of leadership for which she is not prepared. At the same time, the male children were deprived of paternal supervision. This too frequently results in weak, passive males inadequate to take over the leadership in the home because they never learn independence of female leadership.”