Family and social policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Family and social policy - Essay Example Throughout the eighties, they retained the plateau reached in divorce rates, and more than one-third of the marriages were likely to end in divorce. Focusing on these factors, Gittings (1993) argues that: 'There is no such thing as the family, and that no single form of the family has ever existed'. The impact of these changes has been perceptible for women at both ends of the childbearing years. In both age groups women have become less prone to be living as part of a married couple with children, and more prone to be either a lone parent, living alone or living as part of a childless couple. There has been a distinct shift for women from the role of spouse to the standing of the household head. Social and economic trends that have seen increased economic activity of women have conveyed these demographic developments. Though, socialists also distinguished eighties for the impact of economic recession and the rise of mass unemployment. These developments had a particular collision on families (mainly lone-parent families) and led to a threefold increase in the numbers of children living in poverty (Martin J, and Roberts C. 1984). In the death of a clear and wide-ranging model of family policy in Britain, response to demographic and social change has been incremental and sometimes contradictory. The family has increasingly become the center of political and public debate and disagreement. Attempts to persuade at times contrary objectives make any involvement in family policy exceedingly intricate.