England marriage rates have been continuously
declining since the 1980s. Since 1991 the number of legalized marriages has
dropped two thirds to only 231,450. Along with this number, the type of
marriages taken place has also dropped. In 2007 the amount of weddings
involving a wedding ceremony dropped by 50% compared to the amount in 1991. One
of the major causes of the drops in numbers is the way people’s views of
marriage have changed. In earlier years many married young partly because they
were frowned upon if they were having sex or children outside of marriage.
During this period 92 percent of babies born had parents that were married. This
percentage was so high because many of the marriages took place while the woman
was pregnant so that the baby wouldn’t be bought into the world a ‘bastard’.
Today fewer women marry but continue to have children (24percent), which is
leading to an increase in child poverty rates.
It has become accepted and tolerated by
society and the church to have sex and/or children outside of marriage. Along
with this the government now issues a child tax allowance rather than a married
couple’s tax allowance. When the government had the married couple’s tax
allowance it encouraged people to get married because they had something to
look forward to. Now that they have replaced it with the child tax allowance the
single parents feel more supported in their decision to have children but not
get married. The recession has also become a cause in the decline of marriages.
Many of those who still believe in getting married with the ceremony are unable
to afford it so they don’t marry or wait longer. This has led to the average
age of men and women when they first marry to rise from 28 and 26 to 36 and 33.
If nothing is done to change the
way people view marriage and having sex outside of marriage the marriage rates
will continue to decline and the child poverty rates can continue to be on an
incline. There are many ways people can get involved to change these views to
help increase the number of marriages which would in turn positively affect
child poverty rates. The schools in England now teach safe sex since the
invention of contraception. This is a great idea to adapt to the acceptance of
sex outside of marriage, but it abstinence should still be encouraged to help
reduce the amount of children being born outside of marriage. Along with this
the government could also try to implement the married couple’s tax allowance
again, but still include the child tax allowance because they shouldn’t only
focus on one problem area.
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