Angela Bassett gives that speech to Fishburne about how mothers have been raising kids for thousands of years without men's help, yet the movie seems to communicate that Ricky being raised by his mother alone made him sort of dopey and directionless and an easy target for the local gangs.
shareRicky and Doughboy were raised by their single mother, and both grew up with faults. Doughboy is obviously a criminal, and Rickey, though he excels at football and isn't as vicious as his brother, still has a child out of wedlock, has poor grades, and is apparently lazy (sits on his couch watching tv instead of getting cornmeal for his wife).
Likewise, Tre under a single mother was growing up bad, as the fight in the opening shows. His father made him grow up proper.
I think the movie does show that the father figure is essential in a child's (particularly a boy's) upbringing. Whether the movie is saying that fathers are better than mothers is more unclear. I don't think the movie was trying to arouse debate about father vs mother more than it was trying to emphasize the need for a father.
There shouldn't be that much of a debate. Just because Mother's are at home all day with the child doesn't mean their raising them alone because it doesn't take all day to teach a child. With that said, two parents (Mother and Father) is the most ideal but is not going to happen with everyone.
I've seen people come out in all different ways regardless of the parental structure so each is different. Depends on that individual parent(s).