Father Figures:
Gender and Paternity in the Modern Age
An International Conference, co-hosted by the Centre for Women's Studies, was held at Liverpool John Moores University
on Monday 30th June -- Wednesday 2nd July 2003

Fathers figured in studies of the family, gender relations and masculinity and yet have rarely been the central subjects of investigation.

This interdisciplinary conference brings together research on the experiences, meanings and representations of paternity in different societies and cultures. Exploring the many aspects of fathers' lives and their relationships with others, both inside and outside the family, the conference also examines how discourses and practices of fatherhood have shaped ideas about the individual, society and modernity, from the seventeenth century to the present.

Over sixty conference papers have been accepted exploring the cultural meanings and experiences of paternity from historical and contemporary perspectives. Topics include: fatherhood, marriage and separation; fertility and fathering; widowers and bereavement; paternity and violence; work and parenting; father figures in literature, film and popular culture; paternity and patriarchy; reforming fatherhood; feminism and fathers; intellectual fathers; symbolic, imaginary and absent fathers.