How the world adjusts to new family forms
In India, more parents now merely suggest a potential marriage match to their children rather than force an arranged one. In Tunisia, Muslim women can now freely marry a non-Muslim. And according to the J. Walter Thompson marketing firm, choosing to be single for life is a global trend, driven by affluent young people who are 鈥渃onfident, fulfilled, and empowered.鈥�
These news items may show traditional ideas about family are changing faster than ever. But how fast and in what direction? In the first of its kind, a United Nations report looks at the global data and finds a rising diversity of family forms. This shift requires a 鈥渞eality check鈥� on laws and policies, states the report 鈥淔amilies in a Changing World.鈥�
鈥淲e have seen great progress on eliminating discrimination against women in laws. However it is no accident that family laws have been the slowest to change,鈥� says Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the U.N. under-secretary-general and executive director of U.N. Women.
Just 38% of families are聽couples (married or unmarried) with children, the report says, as the rates of delayed marriage, divorce, and cohabitation keep rising. About a quarter of households include extended family. And 42 countries or territories have given the right to marry or partnership recognition to same-sex couples.
One big driver of the new diversity, says the report, is that 鈥渨omen are increasingly able to exercise agency and voice within their families.鈥� This has 鈥渢riggered some shifts in the balance of power within the home.鈥�
Whatever their forms, families still play a unique role. They 鈥渃an be places of love and affection, and pivotal for each member鈥檚 sense of identity and belonging,鈥� the report states.
For people of faith, marriage still plays an essential part in life. Marriage is 鈥渢he single most compelling metaphor for the relationship between God and us,鈥� says Britain鈥檚 former chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, because it 鈥渋nvolves commitment, a mutual pledge of openness and trust, a promise that neither will walk away in difficult times.鈥� One reality that needs attention, according to the UN, is that at least 101 million women are raising children on their own.
Since the 1950s, the world has seen a strong trend toward gender equality in family laws. This adjustment to new forms of family has helped reinforce the enduring importance of the institution. Or as Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka puts it, 鈥淔amilies are places of love, where we can go for support and nourishment.鈥�
