Families and Households
Examine the ways in which social policies and laws may influence families and households.
In this essay, I will be focusing mainly on the laws and social policies from the 1950’s to this present day. The three social policies I have chosen to discuss are the Birth Control Pill, the Divorce Reform Act and lastly, the Civil Partnership Act.
The Birth Control Pill Law was legalised in 1961, this meant that married women who wish to take the oral contraceptive pill can now legally take the pill. The positive effect of this was that there was a change in attitude for women. Christine Northam, a counsellor working for Relate, says “the pill gave women the opportunity to be freer in their own sexual habits, to have freedom to have sex as and when they wanted to" (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15984258). The birth control pill law argues against the fact that women should be oppressed whist men dominate over all because it allows women more freedom and a choice. This is a positive theoretical response as it helps to prevent feminism.
The pill also “encouraged the delay of marriage through routes such as reducing the necessity of marrying to have sex and lowering the incidence of shotgun marriages” (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15984258). This demonstrates, the pill prevents forced marriages just to avoid embarrassment because of an unplanned pregnancy. It has enabled men and women to choose when they want to have a child with no pressure to get married, this has led to an increase in cohabitation. “Cohabitation is the fastest growing family type in the UK (ONS 2007)”. Not all people believe in the contraceptive pill due to some religious views as they believe it is a form of abortion. Another reason why it could be disapproved of is because it out dates the traditional views of no sex before marriage.
The Divorce Reform Act 1969, which came into effect in 1971, was the act in which it allowed couples to escape an unhappy marriage without either partner having to prove a
In this essay, I will be focusing mainly on the laws and social policies from the 1950’s to this present day. The three social policies I have chosen to discuss are the Birth Control Pill, the Divorce Reform Act and lastly, the Civil Partnership Act.
The Birth Control Pill Law was legalised in 1961, this meant that married women who wish to take the oral contraceptive pill can now legally take the pill. The positive effect of this was that there was a change in attitude for women. Christine Northam, a counsellor working for Relate, says “the pill gave women the opportunity to be freer in their own sexual habits, to have freedom to have sex as and when they wanted to" (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15984258). The birth control pill law argues against the fact that women should be oppressed whist men dominate over all because it allows women more freedom and a choice. This is a positive theoretical response as it helps to prevent feminism.
The pill also “encouraged the delay of marriage through routes such as reducing the necessity of marrying to have sex and lowering the incidence of shotgun marriages” (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15984258). This demonstrates, the pill prevents forced marriages just to avoid embarrassment because of an unplanned pregnancy. It has enabled men and women to choose when they want to have a child with no pressure to get married, this has led to an increase in cohabitation. “Cohabitation is the fastest growing family type in the UK (ONS 2007)”. Not all people believe in the contraceptive pill due to some religious views as they believe it is a form of abortion. Another reason why it could be disapproved of is because it out dates the traditional views of no sex before marriage.
The Divorce Reform Act 1969, which came into effect in 1971, was the act in which it allowed couples to escape an unhappy marriage without either partner having to prove a