Post by Libby on Feb 3, 2009 12:15:56 GMT
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4422887/Female-empowerment-has-caused-family-break-up-Church-backed-report-warns.html
Female empowerment has contributed to the break-up of the traditional family, leaving a generation of children emotionally damaged, according to a controversial report on the state of British childhood
The study, backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, criticises the parents of young children for spending long hours at work and relying on childminders.
It describes an increase in the number of mothers going back to work when their babies are less than a year old as a "massive" social change and cites the fact that women are now less dependent on their husbands as a cause of family break-up.
The report, compiled by the academics Lord Layard and Professor Judy Dunn for the Church of England-affiliated Children's Society, also claims that the quality of friendship among young people has declined as the so-called "Facebook generation" spend more time in front of a screen than outside playing.
Among eye-catching recommendations contained in the report, A Good Childhood, which will be published on Monday, will be a call for new civil birth ceremonies for non-religious families, held at register offices along the lines of weddings.
It is also expected to recommend curbs on advertising targeting children under the age of 12 and the option for parents to take up to three years off work to care for their children without losing their jobs.
Its remarks on the causes of social breakdown are likely to attract most controversy, however.
"The context in which families live today in Britain is in many ways quite new, and this raises new challenges," the report says.
"Compared with a century ago, two changes stand out: first, most women now work outside the home and have careers, as well as being mothers.
"Seventy per cent of mothers of nine-to-12-month-old babies now do some paid work, this compares with only 25 per cent 25 years ago - a massive change in the way of life.
"Meantime, the children are cared for by someone other than their parents."
The second change, it says, is a sharp increase in marital break-up in recent decades.
"Women's new economic independence contributes to this rise," the report says.
"It has made women much less dependent on their male partner, as has the advent of the welfare state.
"As a result of increased break-up, a third of 16-year-olds in Britain now live apart from their biological father."
Female empowerment has contributed to the break-up of the traditional family, leaving a generation of children emotionally damaged, according to a controversial report on the state of British childhood
The study, backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, criticises the parents of young children for spending long hours at work and relying on childminders.
It describes an increase in the number of mothers going back to work when their babies are less than a year old as a "massive" social change and cites the fact that women are now less dependent on their husbands as a cause of family break-up.
The report, compiled by the academics Lord Layard and Professor Judy Dunn for the Church of England-affiliated Children's Society, also claims that the quality of friendship among young people has declined as the so-called "Facebook generation" spend more time in front of a screen than outside playing.
Among eye-catching recommendations contained in the report, A Good Childhood, which will be published on Monday, will be a call for new civil birth ceremonies for non-religious families, held at register offices along the lines of weddings.
It is also expected to recommend curbs on advertising targeting children under the age of 12 and the option for parents to take up to three years off work to care for their children without losing their jobs.
Its remarks on the causes of social breakdown are likely to attract most controversy, however.
"The context in which families live today in Britain is in many ways quite new, and this raises new challenges," the report says.
"Compared with a century ago, two changes stand out: first, most women now work outside the home and have careers, as well as being mothers.
"Seventy per cent of mothers of nine-to-12-month-old babies now do some paid work, this compares with only 25 per cent 25 years ago - a massive change in the way of life.
"Meantime, the children are cared for by someone other than their parents."
The second change, it says, is a sharp increase in marital break-up in recent decades.
"Women's new economic independence contributes to this rise," the report says.
"It has made women much less dependent on their male partner, as has the advent of the welfare state.
"As a result of increased break-up, a third of 16-year-olds in Britain now live apart from their biological father."
