History Main / MotherhoodIsSuperior

** ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', prior to the reveal that Luz's father [[spoiler: was a huge part of her life prior to his death and that said death still greatly affects her]], fanfics would generally write him as absent and unimportant to her life. Divorced, dead, uninvolved, there was little to do with him in Luz's life most of the time while Camila, Luz's mom, is given extensive focus and attention.
** ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Hizashi Midoriya is mentioned in extra material to be working overseas and to appear eventually. However fanfics take this lack of attention and go further, generally erasing any relevancy in Izuku's life at all and doing little with any relationship between the two, focusing entirely on his childhood with his mother, who sticks with him through a rough childhood and either helps him as best she can or laments she can do little to help him and makes up for this issue later with all the support she can give. The general exception to this rule typically paints Hizashi as a villain, either a racist against Izuku's status as a MuggleBornOfMages or being the BigBad himself, at which point the fanfic plot is about Izuku rejecting any influence from him.
** {{Manga/Naruto}} and ''Literature/HarryPotter'' follow similar trends that largely play down the affection that either son gives or gets from their father while more often than not keeping or expanding the relationship with their mothers. Minato and James will generally be bashed or presented as worse, whose only worth to their sons is in familiar inheritance. Their mothers, often spared their canonical deaths or revived in some way, are frequent vessels for changing their stories as being raised by them, and typically only them, leads to 'better' versions of Naruto and Harry.
** To a lesser extent than the above, it is not uncommon to see ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' fanfics continue the home series tradition of putting all the emphasis on Ash's familiar relations through his mother and not his father, with his father ignored or used as a negative example. Unlike the above examples though, this is often averted as the decades long enigma of the figure of Ash's father often leads to as much focus on him as Delia in variety of forms that either play the trope straight or avert it.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' features a scene in "The Stranger" where the Blue Fairy says, "Snow White must accompany her daughter or all will be lost. She must be protected—this is a land with no magic. She will need someone to guide her. Someone to make her believe in her destiny. Who better than her mother?" Apparently her ''father'' isn't an option.[[note]] Actually, in this case her father really ''isn't'' an option. The magic will only transport one person, and Emma and Snow count as one person only as long as Snow is pregnant. When she gives birth ahead of schedule, Emma has to be sent alone.[[/note]]

** In "The Doctor Dances", futuristic nanogenes have been mutating humans based on a flawed template from [[PatientZero Jamie]], a little boy killed in a Blitz explosion, now an empty shell looking for his [[ArcWords "Mummy"]]. After the Doctor realizes that young Nancy is Jamie's mother, not his sister, he convinces Nancy to tell Jamie the truth. Recognizing the link between mother and child gives the nanogenes enough genetic information to correct their error and [[EverybodyLives change everyone back]] -- even healing a pre-existing lost limb! Downplayed, since the Doctor says the "parent DNA" was the key factor, not specifically the mother's.

** In "The Doctor Dances", futuristic nanogenes have been mutating humans based on a flawed template from [[PatientZero Jamie]], a little boy killed in a Blitz explosion, now an empty shell looking for his [[ArcWords "Mummy"]]. After the Doctor realizes that young Nancy is Jamie's mother, not his sister, he convinces Nancy to tell Jamie the truth. Recognizing the link between mother and child gives the nanogenes enough genetic information to correct their error and change everyone back -- even healing a pre-existing lost limb! Downplayed, since the Doctor says the "parent DNA" was the key factor, not specifically the mother's.

** [[Recap/DoctorWho2011CSTheDoctorTheWidowAndTheWardrobe "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe"]] blatantly promotes this message, especially when the tree people reject males (even the Doctor) as their vessel because "You are weak", but accept females--Madge in particular--as "the mothership". British journalist Caitlin Moran figured that having spent the day corralling the family and making Christmas dinner for everyone, mothers would appreciate the boost "Yeah, we're the ''[[Franchise/StarTrek USS Enterprise]]''".

* A subtle example in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books. Despite James and Lily sacrificing their lives to protect their son, [[spoiler: it's Lily’s love that protects Harry from Voldermort.]] Additionally, in a segment called ''The Women of Harry Potter'', J.K. Rowling admits that she intentionally used this trope in various ways throughout the series.

* In Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'', one of the damned souls thinks this is true. Her brother in Heaven gently informs her that her father and daughter revolted over her mourning for her dead son not because they were less loving but because she was obsessed and uncaring. At one point, one character points out to the narrator that she would gladly demand to take her son to Hell to keep possession of him.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral'': Gen 2 characters except Celice and Leaf are naturally bonded to their mothers, as their fathers could be anyone in Sigurd's army. While most conversations express the kids' loves and desires to find their lost mothers, they tend to avoid discussing the same about the fathers altogether, [[spoiler: except Levin and Finn, if they are married.]]

* Averted in Manga/GiantRobo. Many characters are motivated by their relationships with their fathers. The end credits dedicate the film to fathers.

Also TruthInTelevision that there are more single mothers than there are single fathers in the world because of the different roles in human reproduction; a man can easily leave after sexual intercourse while a woman must deal with the pregnancy and birth. This is not to the say that a father cannot raise a child or that fathers are unimportant, but it asks whether the fatherhood role in humans is [[NatureVsNurture naturally occurring or if it is a cultural creation]].

Compare DisappearedDad, WhenYouComingHomeDad, RaisedByDudes, AllAbusersAreMale, WellDoneSonGuy, MyBiologicalClockIsTicking and NotWantingKidsIsWeird. Contrast ThePatriarch, HouseHusband, PapaWolf, StandardFiftiesFather, MaternallyChallenged, MyBelovedSmother and EvilMatriarch. Compare and Contrast AbusiveParents, GoodParents, ParentsAsPeople and WickedStepmother.

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* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' features a scene in "The Stranger" where the Blue Fairy says, "Snow White must accompany her daughter or all will be lost. She must be protected—this is a land with no magic. She will need someone to guide her. Someone to make her believe in her destiny. Who better than her mother?" Apparently her ''father'' isn't an option.[[note]] Actually, in this case her father really ''isn't'' an option. The magic will only transport one person, and Emma and Snow count as one person only as long as Snow is pregnant. When she gives birth ahead of schedule, Emma has to be sent alone.

[[/note]]

** This is also largely the case in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', which also has children tied to the mothers (with the exception of [[TheHero Chrom]] and the [[PlayerCharacter Male Avatar]]). ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' inverts this, where the children are tied to their fathers (again, with the exception of Azura and the [[PlayerCharacter Female Avatar]]). Both games do make a point of giving the children [[RelationshipValues supports]] with the parent they aren't tied to, however.

* Meta-example for the ''Film/SilentHill'' movie: The reason why Harry Mason was turned into Rose [[{GenderFlip for the adaptation]], according to the director, is because his loving and nurturing of his daughter was determined to be 'feminine' by the director.

* Meta-example for the ''Film/SilentHill'' movie: The reason why Harry Mason was turned into Rose [{GenderFlip for the adaptation]], according to the director, is because his loving and nurturing of his daughter was determined to be 'feminine' by the director.

Also TruthInTelevision that there are more single mothers than there are single fathers in the world because of the different roles in human reproduction; a man can easily leave after sexual intercourse while a woman must deal with the pregnancy and birth. This is not to the say that a father cannot raise a child or that fathers are unimportant but it asks whether the fatherhood role in humans is [[NatureVsNurture naturally occurring or if it is a cultural creation]].

Biologically speaking, human males like most male mammals do not have evolutionary adaptations specifically used for rearing children and according to some anthropologists, human fatherhood may have been a social construction. There is no conclusive evidence demonstrating that early human fathers participated extensively in childcare. In fact, we get more evidence that many women collaborated together in the raising of children. The 'grandmother hypothesis' is a theory that postulates that menopause evolved in human females so that when they reached a certain age they would become infertile so as to focus on caring for their daughter's offspring rather than their own. Also TruthInTelevision that there are more single mothers than there are single fathers in the world because of the different roles in human reproduction; a man can easily leave after sexual intercourse while a woman must deal with the pregnancy. This is not to the say that a father cannot raise a child or that fathers are unimportant but it asks whether the fatherhood role in humans is [[NatureVsNurture naturally occurring or if it is a cultural creation]].

* In ''Film/AIArtificialIntelligence,'' the father brings a robot son home hoping to "[[ReplacementGoldfish replace]]" their comatose real one, mostly as a means to distract his wife from the grief. When the wife manages to bond with the son, he becomes increasingly jealous and hostile.

* In ''Film/{{Suffragette}}'', Maud's husband loves their son so little that he [[spoiler: gives the child up for adoption rather than allow Maud, whose only crime was to be a suffragist, to raise him on her own,]] when he's decided that he doesn't want to live with Maud anymore. He justifies his behaviour by pointing out that it's completely legal.

* This is the subject of an argument between Tim and Jill in an episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'', where Jill thinks ''she'' should be the one to talk to a suddenly withdrawn and quiet Mark because of the special tie mothers have to their children. Tim thinks she's being ridiculous and insists he can handle the situation just fine. The trope is subverted in the end: Mark ''does'' talk to Jill about the problem (he [[UnwantedGlassesPlot needs glasses]]), but only because nobody else was at home.

* ‘’Series/SchittsCreek’’: Subverted. It’s Johnny Rose who seems to worry far more about the Rose children and his and Moira’s failings as parents. Moira is blunt about how little she cared for taking care of her children, even though she does love them. Johnny tends to make excuses and feel guilty, and even volunteers to babysit a friend’s infant to prove they could have been good hands-on parents.

* ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'': Possibly deconstructed in one episode where Pig is talking to Goat about his neighbour. His neighbour had married this one woman, and everything was great...until the wife had two kids. Then the wife and the kids, who love each other, started treating him like a non-entity. The neighbour has come to the conclusion that she was only using him to get some kids. Goat tries to point out that there is more than one side of a story, and Pig agrees. Then the last panel shows the neighbour was right. The kids and wife are sitting on him, he gets milkshake on his head, and one of the kids says "I spilled milkshake on the couch again, Mommy." She simply says, "That's okay. I was thinking of trading this one in, anyway."

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* This quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead: "Fathers aren't biological necessities, but social accidents."
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Biologically speaking, human males like most male mammals do not have evolutionary adaptations specifically used for rearing children and according to some anthropologists, human fatherhood may have been a social construction. There is no conclusive evidence demonstrating that early human fathers participated extensively in childcare. In fact, we get more evidence that many women collaborated together in the raising of children. The 'grandmother hypothesis' is a theory that postulates that menopause evolved in human females so that when they reached a certain age they would become infertile so as to focus on caring for their daughter's offspring rather than their own. Also TruthInTelevision that there are more single mothers than there are single fathers in the world because of the different roles in human reproduction; a man can easily leave after sexual intercourse while a woman must deal with the pregnancy. This is not to the say that a father can not raise a child or that fathers are unimportant but it asks whether the fatherhood role in humans is [[NatureVsNurture naturally occurring or if it is a cultural creation]].

Biologically speaking, human males like most male mammals do not have evolutionary adaptations specifically used for rearing children and according to some anthropologists, human fatherhood may have been a social construction. There is no conclusive evidence demonstrating that early human fathers participated extensively in childcare. In fact, we get more evidence that many women collaborated together in the raising of children. The 'grandmother hypothesis' is a theory that postulates that menopause evolved in human females so that when they reached a certain age they would become infertile so as to focus on caring for their daughter's offspring rather than their own. Also TruthInTelevision that there are more single mothers than there are single fathers in the world because of the different roles in human reproduction; a man can easily leave after sexual intercourse while a woman must deal with the pregnancy. This is not to the say that a father can not raise a child or that fathers are unimportant but it asks whether the fatherhood role in humans is naturally occurring or if it is a cultural creation.

Biologically speaking, human males like most male mammals do not have evolutionary adaptations specifically used for rearing children and according to anthropologists, human fatherhood may have been a social construction. There is no conclusive evidence demonstrating that early human fathers participated extensively in childcare. In fact, we get more evidence that many women collaborated together in the raising of children. The 'grandmother hypothesis' is a theory that postulates that menopause evolved in human females so that when they reached a certain age they would become infertile so as to focus on caring for their daughter's offspring rather than their own. Also TruthInTelevision that there are more single mothers than there are single fathers in the world because of the different roles in human sexual reproduction; a man can easily leave after intercourse while a woman must deal with the pregnancy.

Biologically speaking, human males like most male mammals do not have evolutionary adaptations specifically used for rearing children and according to anthropologists, human fatherhood may have been a social construction. There is no conclusive evidence demonstrating that early human fathers participated extensively in childcare. In fact we get more evidence that many women collaborated together in the raising of children. The 'grandmother hypothesis' is a theory that postulates that menopause evolved in human females so that when they reached a certain age they would become infertile so as to focus on caring for their daughter's offspring rather than their own. Also TruthInTelevision that there are more single mothers than there are single fathers in the world because of the different roles in human sexual reproduction; a man can easily leave after intercourse while a woman must deal with the pregnancy.