lifesciences News

domestic violence

Despite the Declaration, the rights of men and women "to marry and to found a family" are not being upheld. Women's rights are more commonly compromised than men's. Inadequate legislation and a working life that penalises women for having children are impediments to marriage and family life. So too is violent control over the lives of women and children. Improving the status of women has got to be a priority for their sake and their children's sake. In the UK and worldwide, women are still subject to terrible oppression. One in six women have suffered domestic violence. One in five women are raped, tortured, beaten or assaulted. Women are emotionally and economically exploited. Women still have to face forced marriages, the slavery of illegal prostitution, segregation from many activities like work, education and religion, and genital mutilation. A woman's right to marry and have children freely with adequate economic support must be upheld. Without this fundamental right the human race has no future.

fallen to an all-time low

The birth rate in England and Wales has fallen to an all-time low, official figures show. "The average number of children per woman is just 1.64 - the lowest since records began in 1924. The falling birth rate has been linked to more women opting for a career, work pressures and the higher rate of relationship breakdown. The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, are based on data collected for the 2001 Census."

Today most parents with children need to work and child-care suffers. It is a necessary and a good thing that women can have their own careers, independence and financial security. But in a household with two parents, double-income is becoming less of an option and more of a requirement. People cannot afford to have children, or if they want them, they must work more, which means seeing their children less, or having less children. Child-birth rates suffer as long as we are without the choice for both women and men to stay at home and look after children. Those that do have children spend very little time with them compared to how much they work outside the home. Over-work and financial insecurity are some of the main pressures that are causing sexual problems

cannot afford to have sex

Work pressure also means that people cannot afford to have sex either. People don't have as much sex as they used to because they "are often weighted down by double careers and childcare." Dead sex lives, over-work and lack of mutual affection contribute to the break-up of relationships and families. A recent survey has revealed that given the chance of an extra hour in bed, most working men say they would rather spend it asleep than having sex. "Sex is a very important part of a loving, intimate relationship. If we value stable relationships as a foundation of society, then society needs to change. We need to get away from the culture of working too long and hard, being too materialistic and driven by money."

the exact opposite."

"We have been told, again and again, that automation would liberate us from the tyranny of work. We have been promised a golden era of leisure. And yet it has never happened. In fact, in the last 15 years, we've seen the exact opposite."

British parents want flexible working hours.

So the dropping birth-rate does not mean people do not want children - it means they can't. Despite this, people are struggling for more time; more time for relationships, more time for child-caring, more time outside work. According to a survey published by the Department of Trade and Industry, British parents want flexible working hours. "Of the 4,000 men and women interviewed, almost half said that flexible working was the benefit they wanted most in their next job. Of those with children under six, 80 per cent said that when they were deciding whether to apply for a job, work/life balance was the single most important factor.

Full story.

People have so little time with their children that "children now start school at four or five unable to speak audibly and be understood by others, respond to simple instructions, recognise their own names or even count to five." Full story.

third lowest in the European Union

Even when parents can get time off to care for and raise their children, the financial penalties are severe. Maternity pay in Britain is the third lowest in the European Union. A British mother earning £15,000 receives £2,458 statutory pay in the six months after leaving work; less than in all EU countries except Luxembourg and Greece.

third of all childcare in the UK

Fathers too want to spend time with their children. Fathers carry out a third of all childcare in the UK. This means that the UK needs "a shift in the culture, which actually legitimises men's roles so that they feel more confident to ask for flexibility at work". At present, men have low expectations of securing work-life balance practices, and still see themselves as the main breadwinner, with 80% of them saying that work makes it difficult to fulfil their family duties. "Men feel they are forced to work longer hours to provide for their children, but it's not what they want to do; they want flexibility".

the possibility of marriage

As a result of these pressures, less and less people can have children, and those that do have children cannot give them the time and the care they need. Furthermore, many families face even more of a struggle because they lack the legal protection marriage can offer. Only recently have transsexuals been given the possibility of marriage by applying for replacement birth certificates showing their new genders. But homosexuals still face insecurity and discrimination. Because gays and lesbians cannot marry, they do not benefit from a spousal exemption from inheritance tax. "Same-sex couples, after the first £242,000 (2001 figure), pay tax at 40%. Some couples are therefore forced to sell their home to pay inheritance tax. Many occupational pension schemes make no provisions for surviving same-sex partners to receive 'survivor benefits'. A same-sex partner cannot register the death of a partner as their "next of kin" Hospitals also do not recognise same-sex partners and therefore do not have to give them any visiting rights. Rules governing what happens to someone's estate when they die without leaving a will make no provisions for same-sex partners."

polyamory

Other relationships also suffer from lack of social approval and legal protection. Many people in the UK have more than one partner. Usually this is serial monogamy, where a person moves from one relationship or marriage to another. Other people have more than one lover at the same time. Often, this involves deceit, but increasingly people are being honest with each other. This form of "open relationship" is known as polyamory. Polyamorists may not marry because non-monogamy is not recognised by law in the UK even though anthropologists inform us that 86 percent of the world's cultures have sanctioned some form of polyamory (when polyamorists marry, this is known as polygamy). In countries when men and women can marry more than one spouse, they do not have the same rights as couples when they move to the UK. The practices of polygyny (more than one wife) and polyandry (more than one husband) are not legally recognised in the UK. It is illegal for a man to bring more the one wife to this country with him. He must leave his other wives behind. Recently polygamists have challenged this discrimination.

genes

The reason for the growing practices of serial monogamy, casual sex, polygamy and polyamory, is found in the genes. This new wave of free love is not a moral problem but a natural desire. Traditional monogamous marriage practices are reducing human genetic potential by increasing health defects in babies and genetic diseases. Serial monogamy, polyamory and polygamy reduce this danger. Making it safe and easy to have a free and sex-affirming culture with a variety of legal forms of marriage should be a priority.

increasing failure

The nuclear family is still be upheld as the moral and social ideal, despite its increasing failure to provide for satisfying relationships and successful child-care.

safe sex

Finally, families can only be fully protected by law if safe sex is also encouraged and promoted. Relationships and marriages are only fully protected if safe sex is practiced. This includes knowing whether a new partner is STD free. Safe sex is a priority now that 40 million people worldwide have AIDS. AIDS will kill 70 million people over the next 20 years unless the rich nations of the world step up their efforts to curb the disease and unless we all have sex safely. Without safe sex partners do not just endanger themselves, but any future children they conceive. In 2002, an estimated 720,000 children born became infected with HIV.