Changing Family Structures

• Baby boomer generation


  People born just after the end of the Second World War
• Baby boomer generation reached marriage age


  High marriage rate in the late 1960s
• Marriage rate


  Declines over time
• Same-sex marriage act had a slight impact on increasing marriage rates around 2014
• Divorce reform act introduced


  1969
• Divorce reform act came into effect

  Divorce rates increased significantly
• Divorce rates peaked in 1993 at 165,000 per year
• Divorce rates are now at their lowest since 1971
• Cohabitation


  Living together without being married
• Reasons for cohabitation


  • To try out living together before marriage
  • To avoid wedding costs
• Alternative living situations like living alone or with friends are becoming more common
• People are marrying much later in life now compared to 50 years ago
• Remarriage and serial monogamy (getting married, divorced, then married again) are increasing
• Individualism


  Being more selfish and putting your own needs ahead of family or others
• Reasons for rising individualism

  • More choice in living arrangements and family types
  • Less stigma around non-married relationships and children born outside of marriage
  • Secularization - decline in importance of religion
• Decline in religious belief and practice


  Reduces pressure to get married and stay married
• Divorce has become more normalized as a result of secularization
• There is less pressure today to marry or not divorce if unhappy, compared to 50-70 years ago
• Policy changes like the 1969 Divorce Reform Act had a major impact on increasing divorce rates
• Before marriage and particularly having children out of wedlock


  There was incredible religious pressure to get married to show the child was legitimate
• Now having a baby out of wedlock


  Couples may think they are happy together and don't need to get married
• Policy changes have been massive
• Divorce Reform Act penned


  1969
• Divorce Reform Act became effective


  1971
• The Divorce Reform Act was a key influence on the rise in divorces over the last 50 years
• The Same-Sex Marriage Act allows gay people to get married
• There are only about 8,000 same-sex marriages per year
• Equality policies introduced


  • 1970 Equal Pay Act
  • 1975 Sex Discrimination Act
  • 2010 Equality Act
• Equality policies


  Helped support women going out to work by ensuring equal pay for equal work
• In the 1950s, only 1 in 5 women worked, now it's around 80% of women and 88% of men</b>
• Before equality policies


  It was common for women to be paid less than men
• With equality policies


  Women have had more opportunities to work and gain financial independence
• Women no longer need to rely on a husband for financial security
• Changes in gender roles


  Women can now get an education and go out to work, gaining independence
• Marriage


  Now seen as a more equal relationship or emotional contract, rather than women marrying for financial security
• The rise of feminism has also affected changing gender roles
• Reasons for changes in marriage, divorce and family diversity

  • Rise in cohabitation
  • Secularization and less religious stigma
  • People getting married later in life
  • Legal changes like the Same-Sex Marriage Act and Divorce Reform Act
  • Rising individualism and more choice of household types
  • Changing gender roles
• While nuclear families are no longer the most common family type in the UK, other family types like reconstituted, lone parent, same-sex, and cohabiting families are on the rise</b>
• Birth control and contraception


  Technology that has improved over time and enabled people to have sex without having children
• Birth control like the pill was not always freely available, only for married women until 1967