When their house burned down, the family took residence in an abandoned schoolhouse. Such circumstances were common during the Great Depression. Unlike the 1950s Beaver Cleaver family model, most of American history has seen both Mom and Dad share work and parenting responsibilities. Much has changed since the 1960s. Today a woman can file for divorce, continue with her career, take the children and collect child support.
Fathers are relative in their value as a commodity.
Men today are valued primarily for career status and net dollar worth. Fatherhood is placed in a double-bind. The crisis of fatherhood in America more than anything is a crisis of values. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, was dirt poor. Despite what preachers keep telling us, it's not the absence of mothers in the home that has caused American families to be in crisis.