A lot of fiction with female protagonists has the mother character being the emotionally unavailable one, or the unhelpful and oblivious type, or straight out abusive. Meanwhile, the father, even if they are absent, is considered a much more ‘present’ influence in the main character’s life. The Hunger Games is a pretty good example of this. This isn’t a rule of thumb, but it happens enough that I wanted to have the mother be a strong ally and influence.