Chullin 140: Father Birds and the Mitzvah of Shilu'ach ha'Ken

Our daf begins with questions about when a bird must be sent away - must it be a kosher bird? Sitting on kosher offspring?  Must the bird be alive or undamaged?  Must the birds sit directly on their offspring?  In Mishna 138, Rabbi Eliezer asserts that a male bird that is nesting must also be sent away before taking its chicks/eggs.  The Sages disagree; only a female bird must be removed from her nest before taking her offspring.

The bird used as an example is called a koreh, a sand partridge or ammeoperdix, a type of pheasant. Steinsaltz teaches us that these were common in the Jordan Valley and around the Dead Sea, which is why they were often used as examples in the Torah. Both the father birds nested and the mother birds nested the eggs/chicks of other birds.  

Based on these distinguishing features, Rabbi Elazar makes two statements about the disagreement between Rabba Eliezer and the Sages:

• Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages disagree only regarding a male koreh; the mitzvah of shilu'ach ha'ken, removing the mother bird before taking her offspring, applies even if the mother is nesting another' offspring
• Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages disagree specifically regarding a male koreh; the mitzvah of shilu'ach ha'ken does not apply to other male birds

This conversation is a window into the perceived gendered experiences of those deemed 'male' and those deemed 'female' in the times of the Torah.  In today's world, it would be open to wide question whether or not a nesting father would not also benefit from the mitzvah of shilu'ach ha'ken.  Don't fathers suffer as much as mothers if their offspring are taken away?  Perhaps the rabbis were focusing on the specific words of Torah, but their interpretations were based on the assumptions of their time and place regarding gendered roles.