Instigator / Pro
0
1597
rating
22
debates
65.91%
won
Topic
#3388
On average, it is better for women to raise children.
Status
Finished
The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.
Winner & statistics
After not so many votes...
It's a tie!
Parameters
- Publication date
- Last updated date
- Type
- Standard
- Number of rounds
- 3
- Time for argument
- Two days
- Max argument characters
- 30,000
- Voting period
- Two weeks
- Point system
- Multiple criterions
- Voting system
- Open
Contender / Con
0
1458
rating
7
debates
21.43%
won
Description
Don't derail or argue in bad faith.
The debate is resolved that it is better for women to raise children.
Better is in reference to producing better outcomes for the children/ etc.
Obviously both men and women raise children, we are talking about the primary raisers here.
Typically characterized by those that stay at home and raise/tend to the children while the other partner/individual(s) works.
We are talking about on average, given all the information we can draw. An average rule of thumb per say.
We are not arguing that all women should raise the children, rather that on average, it would be better for them to do so.
All terms should be used by their commonplace understandings, and sematic twists of them will result in an automatic loss.
Round 1
RESOLVED: On average, it is better for women to raise children.
FRAMEWORK
- As stated in the description which is binding as per the rules
- Obviously, both men and women raise children, we are talking about the primary raisers here. Typically characterized by those that stay at home and raise/tend to the children while the other partner/individual(s) works.
- We are not arguing that all women should raise the children, rather that on average, it would be better for them to do so.
- My case for this debate is simple but effective. This is an on the average debate, meaning we need to use empiricism and any available observation and data to justify the resolution. I believe the evidence that exists supports the idea that on average children should be raised by women, and we can present each in a systematic manner. Good luck to my opponent.
C1.
My first reason for this is because on average, most women simply want to raise their children. As TIME reports:
- "A new Gallup Poll shows that more than half of women in the U.S. with children under the age of 18, 56%, would prefer to stay home over going to work, and 39% of women without children under the age of 18 said they wanted the role of homemaker" (1).
- Now one could argue that just because a certain group wants to raise the children more on average, that does not necessarily mean it is better for them too. Thats right, however, there is a connection between this desire and the actions of women in thr workplace actions.
- For example according to data from Pew research center:
- "Mothers with children younger than 18 were more likely than fathers to say they needed to reduce their work hours, felt like they couldn’t give full effort at work, and turned down a promotion because they were balancing work and parenting responsibilities" (2).
- So mothers are more likely to take time off work for the sake of their children, to raise them, and fulfill parenting responsibilities. What stronger evidence exists that on average women are more willing to devote time to children. Well, perhaps another Pew research article provides just that. According to the piece titled "Women more than men adjust their careers for family life,"
- "Among working parents of children younger than 18, mothers in 2013 spent an average of 14.2 hours per week on housework, compared with fathers’ 8.6 hours. And mothers spent 10.7 hours per week actively engaged in child care, compared with fathers’ 7.2 hours" (3).
- Because mothers are more willing to spend time and attention on housework and childcare, we surely must conclude that it is better for these noble women to raise the youngest members of society: children.
C2.
- Another proposition we can make is an argument from psychology or tendency expanding from contention one.
- According to a large meta-analysis published in PubMed titled "Men and things, women and people: a meta-analysis of sex differences in interests," "Technical manuals for 47 interest inventories were used, yielding 503,188 respondents. Results showed that men prefer working with things and women prefer working with people, producing a large effect size" (4)
- Women prefer working with people and men prefer working with things and objects on average and this is one of the biggest psychological differences between men and women. And because of this tendency, it should follow that women would be better suited raising children than men.
- Men are also more violent on average and more likely to abandon and abuse their children.
- According to "Analyzing Gender Differences in Psychology women "are more likely to be mentally retarded—than women" and "men are more likely to abuse and abandon their children, and less likely to take care of their aging parents" (5).
- Given all these points, I believe that on average, it would be better if women raise the children.
- Onward to CON.
SOURCES
- https://time.com/4068559/gallup-poll-stay-at-home-mothers/
- https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/25/gender-pay-gap-facts/
- https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/01/women-more-than-men-adjust-their-careers-for-family-life/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19883140/
- https://www.wondriumdaily.com/analyzing-gender-differences-in-psychology/
So, I actually agree with my opponent's stance. I think women are typically better caregivers than men. However, I took the Con side, and they only have one piece of evidence which supports their argument.
So, in rebuttal to your C1 points:
1) Preferring to stay home has nothing to do with whether or not you’re good at raising children
2) Wanting less hours or taking off from work has nothing to do with whether or not you’ll be a good parent
The quoted evidence isn’t bad, but your argument isn’t great. It could use some work. In addition, this, on it’s own, isn’t evidence that women are better at raising children. It’s evidence that women do it more than men. Doing more of something might not mean they’re better at it. I would argue it is, but I’m not going to tell you how to make your arguments, only that you should maybe work on them.
"Because mothers are more willing to spend time and attention on housework and childcare, we surely must conclude that it is better for these noble women to raise the youngest members of society: children."
This is not a good point. The point you would want to make is, "Because women are more naturally inclined to want to spend more time with their children, they will have more practice raising their children, and rapidly outpace men in child-rearing experience."
Being willing to do something is not the reason they would be good at it. Spending more time doing it is why they would be better (you can't use my argument though, voters beware).
C2.
"Women prefer working with people and men prefer working with things and objects on average and this is one of the biggest psychological differences between men and women. And because of this tendency, it should follow that women would be better suited raising children than men."
It does not follow. Preferences have nothing to do with how good you are at something. Just because you would prefer to be or do something doesn’t necessarily mean you’d be better at it. I might prefer being a fisherman over being a writer, and a fisherman might prefer being a writer over a fisherman. Odds are, the fisherman is better at fishing than I am, and I am better at writing, and it has nothing to do with our preferences.
Your point on violence is a good one, I have to grant that.
"Given all these points, I believe that on average, it would be better if women raise the children."
Still, you’ve otherwise given no statistical analyses of why women would be better at rearing children. You’ve only given evidence that women would prefer raising children more than men would prefer it, and you mentioned that women are more likely to do more child-rearing, or more likely to take more time off for it--and, like, you can totally use my argument, I was just messing with you--but didn't provide a satisfactory argument to prove why this is an effective point.
However, I'm actually going to give you an ultimatum. I will concede at the end of Round 3, but only if you can provide better and better arguments. If you can't knock this argument out of the park by Round 3, I'm gonna try going for the win. Round 2, I'll see what you have and try to see what critiques would help you best.
Round 2
Forfeited
I hope you know, I will not concede if you don't publish your arguments. You have round 3 to make a compelling argument.
So, I will give a really simple argument for this round.
While single mothers are usually better than single fathers at raising children, and wives are better at raising children than their husbands, children who are raised by two fathers do better than all the prior categories.
Round 3
I want to dedicate this round to my rebuttals from round 2 and my conclusion. I was extremely sick on the day I had two other debates to do. I missed this one because I was unable to do anything, and I just managed to get something together for the next two engagements. I apologize for missing it.
CON: So, I actually agree with my opponent's stance. I think women are typically better caregivers than men. However, I took the Con side, and they only have one piece of evidence which supports their argument.
- CON admits that they agree with my stance, and thus, the resolution. CON
CON: 1) Preferring to stay home has nothing to do with whether or not you’re good at raising children
2) Wanting less hours or taking off from work has nothing to do with whether or not you’ll be a good parent
- The resolution states that on average it's better for women to raise children. I even acknowledged myself in my argument that desiring to raise children alone isn't enough to say they are better parents
- However, when we see that women are significantly more likely to take time off work, and dedicate time to raise their children it does reveal that women are more likely to be committed to raising their children.
- This is a significant indicator of who on average is more likely to provide the care the children need. If men are less willing to spend time on child care and raising children, women on average are better to raise children
Your point on violence is a good one, I have to grant that.
- CON concedes the point that men are more likely to abuse and abandon children
"Because women are more naturally inclined to want to spend more time with their children, they will have more practice raising their children, and rapidly outpace men in child-rearing experience."
- I agree with just that
Forfeited
I'm so tired of getting unvoted ties when I clearly win debates.
Please vote