Father knows best is a sentence which helps to perform gender in front of a growing child. Every Child gets his surname in the name of his father. When we achieve something and take reward we are called by the names of our father but Holy Prophet P.B.U.H says; 'on the day of Judgement everyone will be called by the name of his/her mothers.' In India Delhi High court has passed an order that every child has the right to have his/her mother's name as surname.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/child-has-right-to-use-mothers-surname-hc/article35778740.ece
Children adopt to the behaviors that they witness while looking up to their parents and this has a huge impact on their character development. Hence, when one says that the father knows the best, there is an automatic thought instilled into the children's mind that there exists a patriarchal superiority even within the domain of a household. Hence, when they grow up to become parents themselves the same system is repeated. It is therefore essential for the parents to take the first step into breaking these steareotypes which are associated with these parental roles.
Indeed in our patriarchal society, there are set defined roles for the two genders where the mother stays back home and raises the children and is also expected to let go off her job if she’s a working women while the father goes out to earn money to support the family. This has been going on for a long time and is still practiced today. Even though changes are coming but when it comes to the question of surnames, the children are recognised from their fathers name and this again is just an example of our male dominated society. Adding to this, even after the marriage the girl is expected to take the husband’s family name leaving her childhood identity.…
I agree, this patriarchal mindset is the cause of much discrimination in our society. A mother's order is usually not given as much importance as the father's. In our society, we are raised to fear our fathers, who are often portrayed as very aggressive and strict and what they say will be written in stone. This gender discrimination is problematic because in a marriage, both the mother and the father are equal partners in a marriage. Sadly, women in our society are pushed down and are not treated as equals.
Gender roles are ingrained from the very beginning. Had the statement “father knows best” said before I had taken this course I wouldn't have found it problematic. But now I think the statement “ parents know best” should replace the earlier said because in hidden words it is promoting patriarchy. Often my mother would says “ baba sae pucho or agr unho nai aik dafa mana kar dia tu koi argument nai!” So my fathers stance can never be rejected, infact the sad part is you cannot even talk or negotiate. This is the kind of mindset that this statement promotes. This statement further powers our brothers or males of the house to feel powerful to do the same with…