People are also expecting more from marriage, and women especially are choosing to live alone due to feminist views. One reason for the growth in single hood could be the change in the law for divorce. In 1969 the Divorce Reform Act allowed people to divorce easier, as it meant they could put in place a no fault act. This meant that people didn't feel forced to stay in a marriage that made them unhappy. Furthermore, this would lead to a lot of people expecting more from relationships after getting divorced, as they wouldn't want to fall victim to what cause their last marriage to end again.
Sharpe’s believe this could be because of the changing attitudes of society in general towards women and the impact of feminism. Mitsos and Browne (1998) say that the service sector which is traditionally seen as women’s work has expanded. Employers usually like women in this sector as they have good communication skills and the rise in the employment of women has given girls the incentive to do well at school. Mac and Ghaill claim that the decline in male employment opportunities has led to an ‘Crisis of Masculinity’ as many boys now believe they have a less chance in a getting a proper job. This undermines their motivation and self-esteem therefore they give up on trying to do well in education and have a fatalistic attitude towards it.
One reason for this is the reliable contraception that has become available. This means partners can control their family size and also control the age they wish to have children. Another reason why birth rate has decreased is due to women’s change of position in society. Women have now become more equal within society and now have more equal education opportunities than men. This means women now have the choice whether to have a family or have a career.
One of these policies is the divorce act 1969; which has made it easier for couples to get divorced. Due to this, marriage has become less sacred which has made the family unit weaker. Couples may get a divorce instead of trying hard in the relationship to make it better. Another law affecting the family is the new deal 1998; which makes it easier for lone mothers to get back into paid work. This was introduced by the Labour party, who Lewis argues have taken on the idea of ‘social investment in children’ seriously and have realised family forms are changing.
Couples can share a life of dreams, excitement and happiness. Many believe that marriage put women in higher risk factors for abuse and violence. Marriage has become only a statement now because of the widespread social change. Many have stated that being marriage is not important any longer and choose to live together instead. But this is not the same as sharing an intimate and fulfilling life.
If women’s grades decline in STEM, economics, or other quantitative fields, women often switch majors to pursue more forgiving humanities degrees. However, since STEM majors usually command the highest median salaries, women are missing out on future earning potential (10). To that end, in “Embrace the B’s”, Catherine Rampell uses research studies to evoke her audience’s thoughts and attitudes toward affecting change in these disciplines, while continuing the larger conversation regarding gender inequality. First, the author helps
In the UK, divorce has become a lot easier for women so more women are escaping an unhappy marriage and choosing to get divorced. The welfare state provides benefits for single parent families, so women are able to support their children on their own. These include child benefits, housing benefits and tax credits. This could encourage women to get divorced, hence leading to an increase in single parent families. Refugees have also been made available for women by the government, which have allowed women to escape domestic violence.
They are also not having babies or having them later so that they can pursue single lifestyle which means that by the time they have done this they have less time to have babies which means if they do decide to have children they will have less due to the time they have spent being single. A lot of women now have become a lot more independent and are concentrating on their career. Contraception has also improved a lot since the 1900’s this now means that women can choose whether they want to have children or not and still have a sexual relationship whereas before if you wanted to have sex you would most probably become pregnant. In the 1900’s children were less likely to survive due to the health conditions and lack of health care, now there is the NHS free health care for people so babies have a lot more chance of surviving so mothers don’t need to have as many children because the chance of them surviving is a lot higher than it used to be. Women are choosing to have babies later which is also causing the birth rate to drop this is because there is less stigma on having babies t an older age so women are waiting and not worrying what people might think.
When it came to relationships it could be anything from marrying someone of the same sex to not marrying at all. There were new, more lenient guidelines to having a relationship in the 21st century, and they continued to evolve. Individuals were now aiming “for personal growth and deeper intimacy through more open communication and mutually shared disclosures about feelings with their partners” (428). The social norms of family life were becoming less apparent, and marriage in itself was growing to be less common. Marriage had transformed from the mid-20th century to the 21st century in monumental ways.
Secularisation means the decline of the importance / influence of religion in society. Due to science becoming more influential in a modern society, religion is no longer necessarily seen as such an important contributor. As marriage is a religious concept, it might also now be seen as somewhat less significant in society and many might not perceive it to be as valuable or important as it once was. Divorce could be the result of this as the decline of the value of marriage might lead people to believe it is not long term. A third reason for changes in the divorce rate is the changes in women’s expectations surrounding marriage.