marriage

• Demographic Changes & Family Diversity

  Trends & Patterns
• In 2019, there were 219,850 marriages in total in England and Wales, a decrease of 6.4% from 2018-was the largest annual decrease since 2012
• Marriage rates for opposite-sex couples have fallen to their lowest on record since 1862; in 2019, for men, there were 18.6 marriages per 1,000 unmarried men; for women, there were 17.2 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women
• The average age for opposite-sex couples in 2019 was 34.3 years for men and 32.3 years for women; for same-sex couples this was higher at 38.1 years for men and 33.8 years for women
• In 2019, religious ceremonies accounted for less than one in five of opposite-sex marriages, a decrease from 21.1% in 2018 and the lowest percentage on record; for same-sex marriages, 0.7% of marriages were religious ceremonies
• Among marriages of opposite-sex couples in 2019, more than three-quarters of men and women married for the first time
• The number of remarriages has stayed largely the same with a slight decrease from the mid-2000s. The largest increase occurred between 1971 and 1972 following the introduction of the Divorce Reform Act of 1969. In 2019, the number of remarriages stood at 31,000
• Changes in the position of women

  • Liberation of women and the progression of their rights
  • Increased educational opportunities for girls
  • Legislation aimed at reducing inequality in the workplace
• Genderquake


  Young females no longer prioritise marriage-they want to put educational opportunities to use and take advantage of the feminisation of the labour force
• Women may delay getting married


  Until they have firmly established their careers
• Marriage is no longer economically necessary for women

  Increased career opportunities mean they are economically independent, have less need for the financial security of marriage
• Feminist view of marriage

  Marriage is an oppressive patriarchal institution
• Cohabitation among some young people

  A conscious attempt to create a more equal relationship than conventional patriarchal marriage
• Contraceptive methods and access to abortion

  • Led to a massive change in the attitudes and gave women greater independence to control their lives
  • Could work, freed from the need to provide childcare
  • Could also enjoy other rights such as equal pay and the choice of higher education and fulfilling work
• Better contraception

  Couples can live together in a sexual relationship without fear of an unwanted pregnancy
• Changing norms and values


  Less pressure to marry and more freedom to choose the type of relationship want
• Cohabitation, remaining single, and having children outside marriage are all now seen as acceptable</b>
• There is less stigma attached to being unmarried, especially for women
• Secularisation


  People do not feel bound to follow religious rules governing family life and living arrangements
• Marriage was initially a religious ceremony binding two individuals together under the eyes of God
• Decline in the influence of the church

  People no longer feel they should get married for religious reasons
• Expensive 'dream weddings'


  Pressure on couples to have them
• Couples delay marriage

  Wait until they are more financially secure and in established careers before formalising relationship
• Cohabitation may be a permanent alternative to marriage


  Couples would rather put extra finance into a home or children's education
• Paid maternity leave should be scrapped as it encouraged women to go back to work part time, where they can then claim in work tax credit as they earned a low wage
• Welfare benefits to unmarried women, illegitimate children, crime and the refusal of young men to get jobs - as they no longer need to be responsible for the children they father
• Increase in the divorce rate

  View of marriage as a 'union for life' has less power
• People choose alternatives to marriage

  Scared of divorce
• Explanations for decline in marriage/why we're delaying first-time marriage -Changes in the position of women 

  • Liberation of women and progression of rights.-Legislation 
  • , Wilkinson - female attitudes towards marriage have undergone a 'genderquake'-no longer prioritise marriage
  • may delay until have firmly established their careers, -marriage is no longer economically necessary
  • growing impact of feminist view marriage is an oppressive patriarchal institution might also put off women from marrying
  • Abortion and contraception - couples can control fertility and avoid shotgun wedding
• Explanations for decline in marriage/why we're delaying first-time marriage -Changing norms & values 

  • less pressure to marry and more freedom to choose the type of relationship want-less taboo on pre-marital sex.
  • less stigma attached to being unmarried, especially for women.

   changing norms and values towards pre-marital sex, cohabitation, having a baby out of wedlock, and remaining single is underpinned by secularisation.
• Explanations for decline in marriage/why we're delaying first-time marriage 

  Economic reasons 


  • wedding now very expensive- pressure to have expensive 'dream weddings', some delay marriage until are more financially secure some would rather put extra finance into a home so cohabitation may be a permanent alternative
  • .Morgan and  Allan and Crowe -people choose alternatives to marriage as are scared of divorce-may lead many people to see cohabitation, without its binding legal ties, as an attractive alternative to marriage.
• Increase in divorce


  Changes in the law have made it easier to obtain a divorce
• Legal Aid Act of 1949


  Made it possible for people on low incomes to obtain financial help with the legal costs of divorce, i.e. divorce solicitors' and court costs
• Divorce Reform Act

  1. Introduced no-fault divorce

  2. Reflected a change in attitudes, since breakdown of marriage was regarded as sufficient grounds for divorce

  3. Neither needed to be found at fault

  4. Alternatively unreasonable behaviour or adultery could be cited as evidence for irretrievable breakdown
• 1996 Family Law Act


  Meant was no need to show either partner was at fault in order to prove that the marriage had broken down
• Changes in legislation


  Allowed people to obtain divorces, therefore, enabling them to re-marry
• Norms and values


  • Have changed
• Since the 1960s


  Rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce, seen as more socially acceptable and normalised
• Due to secularisation


  Traditional opposition of the churches to divorce carries less weight in society and people are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings when making decisions about personal matters like divorce
• This


  Enables divorcees to remarry