In the US by 2008, maternal sole-custody had declined to 42% of custodial arrangements (from 80% in 1986), while equal shared custody rose to 27% (from 5%).
http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/05/22/joint-custody-becomi...
And I have seen too many people at work struggling with ugly divorces.
Or, the vast majority of the time, men use custody of the children as a bargaining chip to secure a better financial settlement, which is why they mostly don't end up with custody.
In contested divorces, there may be a presumption operating that the person who acted as the primary caregiver is most suitable custodial parent, and traditional gender roles means that that will often be the mother.
But that's not a gender-based assumption, that's a gender-neutral assumption applied to facts that happen to be influenced by traditional gender roles.
Now, if men who were the primary caregiver during marriage were generally losing custody in contested custody proceedings, that would be a different story.
1) That's 100% incorrect
2) That isn't even what was said.
>women end up with the kids the vast majority of the time, and the only time they don't is when there's seriously wrong with them (e.g. abusive, mentally ill, etc.).
Once again, completely and totally incorrect. The "vast majority" of people that I personally know about don't have the woman ending up with the kids. I know of one guy whose ex-wife took off halfway across the country and left him with the kids.
I also know (and hate) someone who is male and did the same - took off halfway across the country and left his ex (girlfriend) with the kid.
I would say that women can tend to be unfair with the kids. Insisting "I'm going to get my way" and the father just giving it to her rather than fight in court over it.
My sister in law isn't abusive or mentally ill.