The globalization of the world economy since the 1970s has placed existing definitions of fatherhood under extreme pressure throughout the western world. At the high as well as at the low end of the social scale, men have found it difficult to fulfill the traditional breadwinner role. In all developed countries, there has been a growing incidence of what some have called `fatherless families' due to this and other causes. Many see this as a major crisis, requiring intervention and coercive measures. But, before we endorse these, it would be well to place this latest round of worries about `fatherlessness' in historical context and realize that the relationship between fathers and children has always been problematic.