State policies and laws have always had huge impacts on family life. As state policies and laws have changed over the years, so have the types of family that we see in society. Sometimes the laws and policies that our set by the government turn out to have unintended impacts on the family life. Many groups of sociologists believe that different laws and policies are set for different reasons.
One huge law that impacted on family life in the UK was the divorce act of 1937, this aloud married couples to divorce each other on the grounds of adultery, cruelty or desertion but it had to be proved. It wasn’t until 1969 with the divorce reform act that you didn’t have to have a reason to divorce your partner you could just do it if you didn’t love them anymore. This impacted family life because this was the start of what we call today ‘reconstituted families.’ Although the Divorce act also caused there to be a lot more lone parent families because one of the parents may get custody of the child, this could cause conflict between the two parents.
Secondly a law which was introduced by the government was the domestic violence act 1976. The domestic violence act meant that it enables women to obtain a court order against their violent husband or partner. This law actually impacts a family or relationship in a good way as it means less domestic violence could occur. However police are not too keen when dealing with domestic violence cases as they think it is something personal to the family. Liberal feminist would say this is a good law and that it helps families.
Another law which was introduced by the government was the equal pay act 1970. This act stated that it doesn’t matter what gender you are you should be paid equally. This would have an impact on family life as it means women/mums might want to pursue a career. Which could mean more of a shared division of labour between the two genders. Which could be