The 1960's were host to the sexual revolution; this movement happened towards the beginning of the ‘60’s, the purpose of this revolution was to empower women. This empowerment consisted of making women more independent, and gave them the power and the right to seek out careers for themselves, instead of just domestic work. Another aspect of this period was that female contraceptives became available, this eventually gave women the option of whether to have children or not. After the introduction of the pill, women had more freedom to go out and build careers for themselves. However this has had a great effect on the rates of marriage and births in the UK, each year they are decreasing and in the 60’s the average family size was marginally larger than nowadays.
Feminists believe marriage doesn’t benefit women in the slightest. The reasons for this are that, if the stereotypical family view was still intact, it would put women at a strong disadvantage but the men would still be advantaged. Even nowadays a larger percentage of women are the parents in a family that take care of children domestic chores, but men are still seen as the ‘bread winners’. According to feminists families are the worst place for women to be as they are sometimes subjected to domestic violence and are often exploited by men.
In comparison to the 1970’s there are a lot less marriages now based on religion, this is because of secularization, this means that religion doesn’t have the effect on society that it used to, this is due to change in social mores. It was previously traditional for a couple to be married for a couple of years before thinking of having children, however, this has all changed, now a large percentage of the population have children before marriage. Also, nowadays couples want to have their independence more, therefore they do not get married until much later in the relationship or don’t get married at all, and some couples have no desire to have children as they are seen as too restricting. However there has been a dramatic increase in single parent families and re-constituted families since the 1970’s.
Another massive change in society is the rising in gay and lesbian couples, in the 1970’s this would have been completely taboo, and would not have been accepted in society for 1 second. Which shows the drastic changes in society as nowadays they can get married and can adopt and raise children, which would not have even been considered in the ‘70’s.
Statistics now show that women request every 7 in 10 divorces. The latest statistical figures suggest that one in three marriages end in divorce, this statistic is however outdated and now the figure is nearing every 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce. The possible reasons for this are that divorce has now become an easier process and a fairly simple process at that. The Divorce Reform Act was introduced in 1969. This law deemed that it was no legal for women to file for divorce, whereas previous to 1969, it was only legal for men to divorce women.
Since the 1960’s the UK has become a lot more multi-cultural, and society is now host to many different cultures. South Asian families in particular are renowned for their extended families, and living with grandparents and other family members such as aunties and uncles, this show the westernization of this culture. Many afro-Caribbean families are lead by the woman, as they are seen as the focus point of most families, this is because they are often without fathers, as in their cultures if the man cannot provide for the family he is excommunicated, and the women provide for the children.
Marriage and parenting patterns have changed that social mores have changed, secularization is decreasing, there is also a lot more support from the state, with benefits and other aids to help people pay bills! Nowadays people are less likely to be influenced by tradition and are more likely to do what they feel like doing, because in today’s society, anything and everything is acceptable, according to postmodernists. Today, "dual-worker" families are becoming more popular in Britain today.
According to the New Right, family diversity does nothing to help the economy and is seen as undermining the nuclear family. Along with this belief, they also believe that single sex couples are not good for society and that women should remain in the home in the traditional sense of the 1960’s. They also view divorce and separations as a problem for society as they say it costs society money because single parent families get benefits from the welfare stare.
In conclusion, this essay has brought to light different views on the state of families nowadays; I have found that there are many contrasting views on diversity. Feminists view family diversity as a positive outlook, which is a positive situation for women, as they are free to do what they want and free from the ‘restraint’ of men and the nuclear family. However the views of the New Right state that the nuclear family is the best scenario of society and family diversity as being wrong as it breaks all traditional values.
