Also, a recent study has showed that there is
no gender bias in the UK family court system - there was a similar success rate for mothers and fathers applying for residence orders, and fathers applying for contact were overly successful.
This article gives an explanation as to why men may still perceive a bias - they apply for the vast majority of orders "to initiate or restart contact" - however some of the reason fathers lose contact in the first place are down to a lack of parenting involvement before the split - leading to poor attachment between father and child. They quote a study which shows that "b
eing a more involved dad (changing nappies, putting the child to bed, reading and playing with them) prior to separation… was linked to more frequent contact and increased overnight stays, particularly where the father had looked after the child by himself." This article, dealing with the US system also points to why mothers are more likely to have custody of children - in the vast majority of cases men don't seek custody or greater contact, and both during a relationship and after relationship breakdown, men do less childcare than women.
Also, the study of the UK family courts found that in some cases the default to equal or near equal custody was working against the welfare of the child. There is also evidence that contact decisions where there is known domestic violence do not always put the needs of the child first: women's aid currently have
a campaign based on the 19 children during 10 years killed during contact arrangements by parents who were prior perpetrators of domestic abuse (in all cases the perpetrator was the father).