Topic:
a father figure is more important than a motherly figure, vice versa.
I will choose the PRO position, that a father figure is more important than a motherly figure. The reason I choose so is that the presence of "vice versa" implies that the CON position would argue for the position that a mother figure is more important than a father figure.
Definitions and interpretations of them will go below.
Father Figure
Motherly Figure
I have yet to find an entry titled "motherly figure", but I figured that "mother figure" should mean the exact same thing.
We are debating whether if A father figure is more important than A mother figure, not the aggregate importance of all mother figures versus all father figures in the human society, etc. Therefore, we are looking at the defined level of importance for mother figures and father figures as an example. Outstanding outliers such as FDR and Mother Teresa should not amount to much for this topic due to them being single individuals taking up an extremely small portion of the entire set of elements that could be called "mother figures" or "father figures".
Why am I saying "defined level", because there is actually not a statistic or database for every mother figure or for every father figure. If my opponent can somehow bring this up without breaking a clear felony(by searching up everyone on the darkweb or something), we will use that instead. Every village chief, buddhist high-ranking monk, male CEO for a company a considerable size, leader for an authoritarian state(such as Kim Jong Un), etc. would count as a father figure, and for the mother figures the state would not be dissimilar.
We are considering whether a father figure holds more importance than a mother figure.
Important
We are considering whether a father figure is more valuable than a mother figure.
Whose importance?
Some consider Kim Jong Un to be a father figure because they are North Korean. Some even develop what is called a "stockholm syndrome" and consider abusers to be father figures. Therefore, the importance should be from the standpoint of people who consider any father or mother figures indeed father or mother figures, and the opinions of their importance should only depend on the opinions of people that treat them as father or mother figures.
Arg: Emotional Substitute
The requirement to a "father figure" is that they have to be an emotional substitute of a father to be a father figure. This requirement meets no equivalence for the definition of "mother figure", as they only need to be older, more experienced, admired, etc. According to this, Rosa Parks and Michelle Obama count as mother figures for the sole reason they are being admired by people and they are old; whereas for the most part, Jimmy Carter and Volodmyr Zelensky, although they are accomplished and respected to some degree, are not considered father figures by the people(because they lead democratic states).
The point made is that in order for a person to be an emotional substitute for a family member to another, they would need more than just being respected. One can be respected and admired without being an emotional substitute, but the inverse is nearly impossible. In order for someone to be an emotional substitute of a father, not only they should be respected, they should feel like a father to one. The equivalent rule was not seen in the definition for "mother figure". This enables Rosa Parks for being a mother figure but denies Zelensky from being a father figure if we don't consider either to be like the literal mother or father.
Since the cutoff line for a father figure is more strict, the male individuals that are powerful and respected but cannot be related as a father are disqualified, and the importance of a father figure to those that consider the individual an actual father figure is higher than for the instances with the mother figures. The conclusion is that a father figure is indeed more important than a mother figure to individuals that consider them as so.
I rest my case.
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Hands down the hardest topic I have accepted in 2022 because it is usually easier to prove a negative than a positive.
Per my own rules you are supposed to say this in your R1. Oh well I have seen this one round too late, so the first round is wasted.
Debate will be whether a father figure is more important than a mother figure, vice versa.