Topic Links

• The Equal Pay Act affects gender roles in families as it encourages more women into work, reducing traditional housework roles and promoting more equality
• Child protection laws and the education act made childhood more child centred and protected
• Clean water act and NHS has influences demography rates by improving infant mortality rates and life expectancy. Contraception and abortion laws reduced birth rates.
• The divorced reform act, civil partnership act, marriage equality increased family diversity (cohabiting, same sex, reconstituted family types).
• The functionalist perspective (e.g. Fletcher) sees positive legal changes as helping families to function better.
• Liberal feminists may view legal changes as progress, for example with the equal pay act. Whereas others like the radical feminists argue some policies like the maternity leave act can reinforce patriarchy
• Attitude shifts has driven a shift in the demographic trend of women choosing to have fewer children or no children, or later in life.
• New right disapprove of changing attitudes as they prefer tradition. Liberal feminists and post modernists support increased choice and individualisation.
• Women’s work status affects family life by allowing dual incomes which means more spending on children, leading to a more child centred family.
• Women’s work status has affected demography as there is now delayed childbirth and fewer children which reduces the birth rate
• Women’s work status affects family diversity as women feel more empowered to remain single, cohabitation or divorce due to financial independence
• joint conjugal roles promote shared childcare and more negotiation in family roles, affecting families
• Dual working parents may rely on childcare or technology, reducing emotional development, affecting childhood
• Women’s changing roles, later childbirth, legal access to contraception and abortion and attitudes shifting has caused a decline in birth rate.
• A declining birth rate means children are more valued and resources are concentrated on fewer children making childhood more child centred
• Migrants tend to have higher fertility rates, influencing birth rates
• Longer life expectancy means more elderly care roles for middle aged, typically women, changing family dynamics
• More beanpole families and increased working age has meant aging populations has affected the family