Ignoring few exceptions, why can't men devote themselves as wholly to their family as women can do?

Question

I am of course aware that there would be plenty of exceptions... still I do feel that it is as valid as most of other such generalizations can be.

I wonder whether it is due to being more selfish or due to being more broad minded than women!!

Answer 1

Biologically (and because of how they are socialized...a combination of nature & nurture I believe) women are better nurturers than men. We are naturally better caregivers. We are more in touch with our emotions, more sensitive to the needs of others & we have a nesting instinct to make a beautiful comfortable home & take care of those in it. Yes this is a generalization & it's not to suggest that there aren't men who are wonderful fathers who adore their children & may even be the primary caregiver in their home, but as you say that is the exception rather than the rule.

Answer 2

Social conditioning is one reason. Women are taught or were taught that family is a priority and the woman's place is to keep it that way. although things have changed over the last few decades many men are seeing their role differently and women are as well. Many women have taken on what has in the past been considered a male role...working, career, self importance.
And i know quite a few women who have an extremely hard time committing wholly to family. Women have been let off the hook quite a bit in the past. So although your generalization is somewhat correct in theory. You cant really know the motives of another persons choices or actions

Answer 3

Since we're talking generalizations here...
I truly thinks its neither selfishness nor broadmindedness...I think it has to do more with the the gender roles that society gives us.
Little girls are given dolls, castles, dress-up clothes, etc to play with. They learn at an early age to nurture.
Little boys are given trucks, planes, toy guns, action figures, etc...they learn to ram and crash and shoot and adventure at an early age.
Experience in school continues this same gender differential....until you have two adults, one who has lifelong been thrust into a nurturing role, and one who has lifelong been thrust into an action role. Men...hunter. Women...gatherer. Men..work. Women...childcare.
Its stereotypical, I know...but never-the-less its true. Men don't develop "fathering" instincts upon the birth of a child the way women develop "mothering" instincts. Men take time to sort it all out, and most of the time the financial needs of the family won't give them the time. By the time they come home from work, they want to eat, relax and go to bed. Men don't feel as though they are shortchanging anyone if they don't get more involved.

And, I won't take exception to the broadminded comment...LOL...though I could, oh how I could!!! Maybe it should have been bread-minded...LOL

Answer 4

I think that since a man's job defines who he is and is important to him, that is one reason. They are always focused on moving up the ladder.
Also, if they have a family to support and bills to pay, this is another reason. But women are expected to work, go to school if they choose, as well as take care of the kids and the housework. Men don't want any part of that for a lot of reasons.
I don't think they're all that good at multi-tasking.

Answer 5

For a start, a woman KNOWS it is her family! Paternity tests show that a lot of men only think it is. Also, a man can have many children by many women; not so true for women, who have a bigger stake in their family than a man may have.

Answer 6

Because men have more important things to do. You see, little billy, it all goes back to prehistoric times when we were but cavemen of sorts. Not so much human, but very sexy cavemen. Hunting and gathering was the name of the game. The men would go on these excursions to hunt a mastadon or a woolly mammoth or whatever they hunted, while the women would sit around on their fat a**es eating bon-bons and watching soap operas while the kids run around annoying them. So it all goes back to our basic instincts:

Men = Bring home the Mastadon
Women = Bon-bons and soap operas.

Not to mention that men have bigger brains than women. They have brains nearly a third the size of mine. It's science.

Answer 7

Roles in life.

Husband means: - to look after (as in animal husbandry - they look after animals) and wife means: - one who helps (as in midwife - one who helps a woman giving birth). Look both words up in the dictionary if you don't believe me.

So, given that the man is the one who looks after the family he is the one who has to go out and kill the beast so that the family can eat. Today he goes to the office and makes money so he can pay someone else to kill the fatted calf for his family to eat.

The woman (wife) is a helper in that regard. She is the one who has birthed the children and is also the one who is equipped to feed them from birth. As they get older that attachment formed from birth and suckling continues so, again, the wife is the one who is best suited to continue to look after the family.

She is helping the husband look after the next generation by ensuring they stay safe and are well while he is off looking for the hairy beast to kill and drag home.

Nothing to do with selfishness, at all.

Answer 8

Simple- you are too busy tring to stick your thing in a many holes as you can! It's ugly but true.