Let’s get one thing straight, I’m not saying women can’t successfully raise their kids without a male partner to support help them, but some things in life require both parents to raise children.

I was raised by a single mother who supports me and did an exceptional job in helping me get to where I am today. She is truly an outstanding woman whom I admire greatly. After getting a divorce with my father, my mother went back to college to get her degree and is now a licensed dental hygienist. My mother spent endless hours working to support us all while going to school and I am so proud of the women she is. My mother taught me how to work hard and give nothing less than my best in anything I do. As much as I admire my mother the one thing I needed to be taught in life, she could not teach me.

Not having a constant father figure in my life resulted in some of the most difficult years of my life. I did not have a father to look up to whom I could compare with when the time came for me to find a partner. I involved myself with the wrong type of boys who had no respect for women and treated them like they were nothing. Yet I had no idea what to look for in a man because I never had a male figure in my life to show me what qualities my partner should have. The role of a father, like any parent, is to positively influence their child and help them grow by teaching them what is right and wrong. When a father figure is not present in a daughter’s life, it can alter one's perception of how we should allow our partner to treat us.

There is significant importance in a male’s role in a relationship when raising children. It’s not a matter of establishing a patriarchal society where women learn to be submissive nor is it a catalyst for rape culture. But rather, having a present father figure allows daughters to understand how they should and should not be treated in regards to dating, and in life. A fathers goal isn’t to convince his daughter that she should be submissive towards men, but the exact opposite. Fathers teach their daughters to be independent and that they shouldn’t rely on men for happiness but themselves instead.

Just because father’s practice father-daughter dates doesn’t mean they are molding their daughter into submissive individuals with “dependent” branded on their forehead. Father-daughter dates ensure that daughters are able to spend quality time with the one man they can always trust, and learn one of the most valuable lessons in life: making sure their future partner treats them with the same respect and compassion that is given to them by their fathers.