For too long, mothers have been viewed as the only fit parents according to most Family Courts

across the country. With the idea of assigned gender roles becoming a thing of the past, it’s time

that custody court rulings reflect the times. Fathers fighting for custody of their children are often

getting the short end of the stick because of preconceived biases, and I’m determined to find the

solution to this problem and eliminate bias in the courtroom entirely. Judges are required by law

to do their job without bias or prejudice, however, there is proof that this law is not being upheld.

Ault, Christopher M. “How To Tackle Bias Against Fathers In A Child Custody Dispute?”

The Ault Firm, P.C.,​ 20 Oct. 2019,

www.aultlegal.com/bias-fathers-courts-still-exists-tackle-child-custody-dispute/.

Christopher Ault is a practicing attorney in West Jordan, Utah who makes posts on his firm’s

website about things he has experienced in the courtroom and advice he has for his clients. In his

article, “How To Tackle Bias Against Fathers In A Child Custody Dispute?” Ault informs his

readers about how to prevent becoming a victim of gender bias in the courtroom. However, he

gives a brief background about how prevalent gender bias is in today’s family courts before

delving too deep into his own advice. Ault quotes, “Although it is clear that times have changed,

our Salt Lake City child custody lawyer from the Ault Firm says that despite the fact that the

pattern of fathers being the providers [and] mothers being the born nurturers is no longer

universally acceptable, family courts in Utah and all across the United States are still more

inclined toward awarding mothers with primary custody.”

This source represents the viewpoint of blaming gender bias in the courtroom on preconceived

gender roles, however, it takes more time than other sources to explain to its readers that there

are ways to prevent becoming a victim of gender bias. Since there are key signs that a judge

would look for when ruling out a father as a good caregiver, men going into a custody court case
should be aware of these signs and put it in their power to prove that judge’s biased opinion

wrong. Ault says that the best advice for fathers to follow is to develop a parenting plan or

co-parenting plan if you are seeking joint custody, present evidence of an emotional bond

between you and the child or anything else that would indicate that you and the child have an

established relationship, and continue spending quality time with the child even though there

may be little time for anything during a divorce. Ault stands by his advice when informing

fathers of ways to make sure that they don’t fall victim to gender bias in family courts and have

their relationships with their children taken from them, undeservedly.

Cordano, Emy A. “Why Do Women Get Child Custody In 90 Percent Of All Cases? Isn't It

Gender Discrimination?” ​EMY A. Cordano, Attorney at Law​, 9 Nov. 2020,

www.cor-law.com/blog/women-get-child-custody-90-percent-cases-isnt-gender-discrimina

tion/.

Emy Cordano is a practicing attorney in Salt Lake City, Utah. Cordano often writes

articles about things going on in the world of law and publishes them to her website. In her

article, “Why Do Women Get Child Custody In 90 Percent Of All Cases? Isn’t It Gender

Discrimination?” she educates her readers on the biases that fathers face in family court.

Cordano believes that biases present in Utah’s family court are a result of cultural norms and

preconceived gender discrimination. She informs that because of Utah’s predominant patriarchal

culture, men are seen as the breadwinners and, therefore, not as fit as women to be caretakers.

Cordano believes that these preconceived notions are a thing of the past, however, the biases still

present in Utah’s family court don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. She states that

this is the fight that she and her law firm are taking head-on.
 This source takes the viewpoint of blaming gender bias in family courts on preconceived

gender roles and cultural influence. Cordano quotes, “Our lawyers explain that just because

women are considered culturally better at parenting than men does not give the court a legal right

to award more child custody rights to the mother unless there are facts proving that the child’s

best interests would be met if he or she remains to live with the mother.” For example, cultural

standards say that black men are more violent than white men, but a judge is not legally allowed

to have this cultural bias in mind when deciding their ruling, especially when said black man has

evidence to prove that he did not commit said violent crime and the white man has no evidence

to prove his innocence. This is the situation that fathers face every day in custody court. This

source provides me with evidence to support my claim that stereotypical gender roles are still

very much present in family courts, and continue to harm fathers’ chance at custody of their

children.

Hoskovec, William. ​Family Court Gender Biases in Child Custody Cases.​ 9 July 2020,

www.cortezhoskovec.com/legal-blog/2020/july/straight-talk-gender-bias-in-the-family-court

-sy/.

William Hoskovec is an attorney with Cortez & Hoskovec, LLC who make blog posts to inform

his clients, past, present, and potential, about what to expect in the courtroom. In his post

​ oskovec tackles
“​Straight Talk: Family Court Gender Biases in Child Custody Cases”, H

informing his readers about how hard it is for fathers to gain custody of their children after

separating from the child’s mother. He blames preconceived gender roles and court staff

demographic for the biases that fathers experience everyday within family court. He states that,

according to gender roles, mothers usually fall into an administrative role when children are

concerned, while fathers take the supportive role. Hoskovec believes that this leads to fathers
being put a step behind when they are expected to be both the administer and supporter in a

single-parent household. He continues with saying that this leads to fathers looking dismissive in

a custody court’s view. Hoskovec is able to trace where gender role biases stems from, and can

argue against it, therefore. However, Hoskovec does not stabilize all of his argument on gender

roles.

Another main piece of Hoskovec’s argument on biases against fathers in custody court has to do

with the demographic of family court in general. He quotes that, “we need to look at the general

demographic of individuals we would expect to encounter at our local family court. Typically,

seven out of ten of them are women.” He believes that this puts men in family court at a

disadvantage, prematurely. Hoskovec advises his clients, both men and women, to be confident

in their relationship with their children and to not leave the household in the event of a dispute.

However, he follows up with the fact that only men are expected to provide proof of an

emotional connection with their children to show that they are a fit parent, not women.

This source takes the viewpoint of blaming gender bias in family courts on preconceived gender

roles and court staff demographics. Specifically the fact that women are almost always seen as

the nurtures of the family and that 70% of family court staff are female. This source helps prove

my point that gender biases do exist and that they’re harmful to men seeking custody. This

source tends to lean on logos for supporting its argument, and this is seen by the amount of facts

and statistics you can find throughout the article. The intended audience for this article are

potential clients of Cortez & Hoskovec, LLC, however, this includes all male and female

potential clients without discriminating against either party. This article was written by a

practicing lawyer with multiple years of experience, so I believe that it passes as credible. It

supports my argument and gives me a source to quote in my argument. I agree with a lot of the
article's main points because I’ve seen the effect of this argument in my own life, and can agree

to the fact that these biases within custody court cases are not uncommon.

Johnson, Erik K. “Do You Think Current Divorce Laws Are Biased against Men?” ​Divorce

Utah​, Utah Family Law, LC, 18 May 2020,

www.divorceutah.com/2017/10/16/current-divorce-laws-biased-against-men/.

Erik Johnson is a practicing divorce attorney in Salt Lake City, Utah. When asked the question,

“Do you think current divorce laws are biases against men?” he responded with, “in my

experienced opinion, yes.” However, he tends to undermine this statement throughout his

writing. He states that, today, it is much easier to gain custody of your child, as a fit father, than

it used to be. As well as stating that men and women parent differently, Johnson concludes his

argument by stating that, “if you are just as fit a parent as your wife, the biases against men can

be almost entirely rebutted and disproven, if you have mountains of the right evidence to show

the court.”

This source’s viewpoint is that, while there are still some biases against fathers in custody court

cases, most of the legal obstacles that stood between fathers and equal custody of their children

have been eliminated. While this is true, I believe that there are more bias problems in family

court that still exist and have not been addressed. This source uses plenty of ethos when the

author talks about his personal experiences as a lawyer. This gives him some credibility and

makes his writing a credible source. However, I disagree with a majority of his argument

because I’ve experienced the biases I’m arguing about, first hand. Mr. Johnson’s intended

audience is not clients, but just those who wish to be informed. I believe that it’s an effective

source for its intended audience. Some questions I have that remain unanswered after reading

this article are; What judges has Mr. Johnson worked with? Does Mr. Johnson only deal in civil
divorce custody cases, or has he also dealt with child endangerment custody cases? What

demographic of employees does Utah have, and how does this compare with other places’

demographics?

At this point in my research process, I’ve been able to find multiple viewpoints about my

given topic, which I wasn’t too confident about when I first started doing my research. With all

the research I’ve done, I’m even more confident in, not only my argument, but my ability to

argue for my topic. I believe that I’m able to inform my audience about biases against fathers in

custody court cases fairly, and without biases, despite my personal views on the subject matter.

In conclusion, many believe that these biases against men doesn't exist, however, I’ve done

enough research to prove that this unfairness does exist and the way to solve this problem is by

making court staff have a more diverse demographic and by stopping requirement of proof of

emotional connections between father and child.