UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
IV. THE FAMILY, ITS ROLES, COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
I. The World Population Plan of Action affirms that "the family is the
basic unit of society and should be protected by appropriate legislation and
policy" (para. 14(g)). In all parts of the world, families perform important
socio-economic and cultural functions. In spite of the many changes that have
altered their roles and functions, families continue to provide the natural
framework for the emotional, financial and material support essential to the
growth and development of their members, particularly infants and children,
and for the care of other dependants, including the elderly, disabled and
infirm. The family in all its forms is the cornerstone of the world
community. As primary agents of socialization, families remain a vital means
of preserving and transmitting cultural values. In a broad sense, families
can, and often do, educate, train, motivate and support their individual
members, thereby investing in their future growth and acting as a vital
resource for development. Families are also important agents of sustainable
development at all levels of society and their contribution in this area is
decisive for its success. The specific functions of families include
establishing emotional, economic and social bonds between spouses; providing a
framework for procreation and sexual relations between spouses; protecting
family members; giving a name and status to family members, especially to
children; and providing basic care, socialization and education of children.
Issue No. 6: Diversity of family structures and composition
II. In spite of the almost universally recognized roles attributed to the
family, it is important to acknowledge that there are numerous forms in which
families are organized. Such variety is concomitant with the multiplicity of
forms of social organization, and cultural and religious values. In this
respect, the Plan of Action does not endorse any particular form of family
over others. The family, as a social unit, has been undergoing radical
transformations in the past two decades in its formation and structure due to
the changes in demographic factors as well as major socio-economic changes.
In the developed countries, with the end of the marriage boom in the post-
1960s, entry into matrimony and hence, the formation of families is
considerably delayed. Formalized marriage has been losing its status,
especially in Western countries, where cohabitation without marriage has
increased, at least before children are born. Those changes have been
affecting family formation in general, and particularly have led to a decrease
in the overall prevalence of marriage among women. The number of divorces has
also been rising in most countries. Severe inequalities in the division of
labour and in the distribution of power exist also within many families. The
discussion on children's rights to decide on their own affairs has only begun.
Egalitarian possibilities for both genders are but words in most families and
a true partnership between men and women on the basis of equal rights and
responsibilities is the challenge of modern families. Many of those changes
are now beginning to appear in the developing countries.
III. In the developing countries exhibiting a rapid process of modernization,
the mean age at marriage has been significantly raised, particularly due to a
notable increase in female education, and that has implied a delay in the
formation of families. Data confirm that in almost all industrialized and
developing countries, between the 1960s and the 1980s, and even more so
between the 1970s and the 1980s, the singulate mean age at marriage of women
increased. The magnitude of those increments varies, however, from
region to region. In Africa, despite signs of a trend toward postponement,
the average age at marriage for women is still quite early, hence contributing
to the maintenance of high fertility patterns in most countries, especially
in sub-Saharan Africa where most countries have a singulate mean age at
marriage below 21 years. In Latin America and the Caribbean, by the 1980s,
the singulate mean age at marriage usually exceeded 20 years, but the effect
of marriage postponement as opposed to the effect of contraceptive use on
fertility levels is more difficult to ascertain in countries of high
prevalence of consensual and visiting unions. In Asia, marriages have been
delayed to varying degrees in recent years and by the late 1980s, the
singulate mean age at marriage exceeded 21 years among women, except in
Southern Asia.
IV. The less developed regions are also characterized by traditionally
larger differences between sexes in the singulate mean age at marriage than
the more developed countries. During the 1980s, differences exceeding 5-6
years were not uncommon in the former regions, whereas they generally varied
from two to three years in most countries of the latter regions. Northern
America, Europe and the former USSR have also been characterized by a
considerable increase in mean age at first marriage, a significant decline in
marriage prevalence and an increase in the proportion of those remaining
unmarried. In the Scandinavian countries, the proportions of those ever-
married are very low. This increase in the proportion remaining unmarried
may, however, have been largely compensated by the increase in unmarried
cohabitation in those countries (United Nations, 1990). During the period
under consideration, it can also be observed that Governments have made
important advances in eliminating forms of coercion and discrimination in
relation to marriage.
V. Family structures and composition are also affected by other socio-
economic and political changes. In the 1970s and 1980s, for example, some
Asian and African countries experienced large-scale international migration
due to a great shortage of labour in the oil-rich countries and internal
political conflict in some countries of the regions. Recently, there has been
large-scale migration from Eastern Europe due to recent political changes and
the political conflict in former Yugoslavia. The effects of these large-scale
migrations on family formation and structure are yet to be known but they
need to be considered while formulating policies.
VI. Family formation and structure are also influenced by changes in the
value system of societies. The process of modernization, in fact, has
increased the value of achieving higher education and entering the labour
market, while the attraction of a traditional child-bearing career for women
has declined and, in fact, an increasing number of women are achieving higher
education and entering the labour market. These changes in the developed
countries have significantly modified the lifestyles of both men and women and
have produced new levels of aspirations that are concomitant with a smaller
number of children. Similar trends are gradually appearing in the developing
countries where rapid industrialization and economic development are taking
place.
VII. The significant breakthroughs in contraceptive technology have made
possible the achievement of low fertility levels in the developed countries
and the initiation of the process of rapid fertility decline in many
developing countries. Such rapid declines in fertility in some Asian and
Latin American countries have contributed to declines in the size of
households.
VIII. In all developed countries except in the former USSR, the average
household size declined through the 1970s. Given the already small size of
households, the absolute changes during that period are small -- in many
cases, between 0.2 and 0.4 persons or less. But the trend is discernible, and
seems to be continuing through the 1980s in countries where data are
available. For instance, the North American household has continued to shrink
in size from 3.1 persons in 1970 to 2.7 in 1980, and further to 2.6 persons in
1990. Reduction in household size is also a trend which characterizes most
countries in Eastern and South-eastern Asia and in Latin America. China,
which comprises more than one fifth of the world population, had a moderate
size of 4.4 persons per household in 1982 and 4.0 persons in 1990. The
decline in household size was particularly evident among countries that
experienced a significant decline in fertility. On the other hand, there are
countries in Africa and in Southern and Western Asia where there were reported
increases in the average size of the household. For example, the average
household size in Algeria increased from 5.9 persons in 1966 to 7.0 persons in
1987. In Pakistan, the size has grown from 5.7 persons in 1968 to 6.7 in
1981. All countries in Western Asia, except Israel and Turkey, have reported
an increase in their already high average size of six or more members in a
household; this is largely due to a decline in mortality among children as
well as the older age groups between the 1970s and the 1980s.
IX. Household composition varies within and between regions. In the
majority of African countries, average household size is almost equally
divided between children and adults, with a range of 5-6 members per
household. In most Latin American countries the mean number of adults per
household in the 1980s was close to 3.0 members and was higher than the number
of children. Similarly, the majority of Asian countries had 3.0 or more adult
members per household and the mean number of children per household was always
lower than that of adults. In China, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea and
Singapore, a small but growing percentage of the urban elderly no longer live
with their adult children. The norm is, however, still the extended family
and in rural areas there has been little change from the traditional family
structure. The pattern of household composition observed in the developed
countries is significantly different from that of developing countries. In
the 1980s the mean number of children per household varied in the narrow range
of 0.5-0.9 and that of adult members was in the range 1.9-2.6; however, most
of the countries had about 2.0 adult members. The presence of two adult
members per household in the developed countries is an indication of the
predominance of the nuclear type of family; on the other hand, the presence of
more than two or three adult members in a household in developing countries
indicates prevalence of an extended type of family or of a nuclear family with
adult children present.
X. In the developed countries, the remarkable increase in the number of
one-person households has been another important demographic change which has
contributed to the size reduction of households. Between the 1970s and the
1980s, the developing countries were experiencing a drastic decline in the
proportion of households of five persons or more, possibly suggesting the
dissolution of the extended type of households. Also, there has been an
increase in the number of one-person households, although the proportions of
single-person households in the developing countries remain relatively small
as compared to the developed countries. This tendency is more noticeable in
those developing countries which are engaged in a rapid process of
modernization.
XI. From the policy perspective, one notable change in family formation and
structure is the increasing number of households headed by single persons,
particularly women. Female headship is common in many parts of the world and
its prevalence is growing in many societies, both in the developed and the
developing regions. The percentage of female-headed households among the
total numbers of households ranges from less than 5 per cent in Kuwait and
Pakistan to 45 per cent in Botswana and Barbados. A great diversity in the
prevalence of female-headed household is also observed in each region of the
world. Around 1980, both in Latin America and in Africa, the proportion of
female headed households ranged from 10 to over 40 per cent. In Asia, the
figures vary within a narrower range at a lower level. No Asian country
reports more than 20 per cent of their households to be headed by women. In
the developed countries, during the same period the range of female-headed
households varied from 16 per cent in Spain to 38 per cent in Norway. The
chance for formerly married women (widowed, divorced or separated) to become
household heads is much higher than for single or married women everywhere in
the world. The female headship rates for widowed and divorced/separated women
were somewhat higher among the developed countries, where 60 to 80 per cent of
those women were household heads. The corresponding figures for Latin
American countries fall in the range of 40-60 per cent. Although the
available data refer only to a limited number of African and Asian countries,
the headship rates for formerly married women greatly varies within the
regions. These trends are seen as signs of the vitality and resilience that
the family as an institution has shown despite the many pressures and
challenges it has faced. New forms of family life are developing to meet the
challenges of the modern world.
Issue No. 7: Socio-economic support to the family
XII. To a large extent, perceptions, attitudes and aspirations affecting
demographic variables are acquired by individuals through their family life.
Families and broader kinship-based support systems, as noted earlier, provide
the natural framework for the emotional and material custody essential to the
growth and support of their members. Although the goal that families should
aim at achieving self-sufficiency should be recognized, yet, in many
circumstances, families are not and cannot be wholly self sufficient. The
reasons for and the solutions to family problems cannot be found solely in the
families themselves, but rather in the socio-economic and cultural context in
which they exist. This observation highlights the need to develop effective
legislation, family policies, services and benefits aimed at strengthening
basic family functions, taking into account variations in cultural, social and
religious customs, and protecting the basic human rights of family members.
Beyond this, there is a need to develop "family-sensitive" social and economic
strategies, policies and programmes intended not only at responding to the
needs of vulnerable families, but also at identifying the "family impact" of
policies and programmes more generally.
XIII. The Plan of Action and the Mexico City recommendations contain a series
of provisions aimed at supporting families in fulfilling their roles in
society (para. 39 and recommendation 34, respectively). Families have been
affected by the dynamics of the societies where they exist. Over the past few
decades, the family has undergone varying degree of changes in structure and
functions, largely depending upon the level of national economic development
and diversification. This process has been accelerated by advances in
technology and changes in mores and values. In societies that have not been
subject to rapid economic development, urbanization and demographic
transformations, the changes have been less drastic. In addition to those
long-term sustained influences, some short-term influences, such as the
migration of workers, natural disasters, war and drastic deterioration in
economic conditions, have placed severe pressure on families and family
structure in many developing countries. In performing functions vital to the
well-being of its members and society, the response of the family to those
changes has ranged from adaptation without significant dysfunction to total
breakdown. Where the family system has broken down, the pressure on social
institutions has generally been extreme. In contrast, where supporting social
and economic mechanism were still in place, adaptation has occurred, with less
disruptive effects.
XIV. In some developed countries both new laws and social welfare programmes
have been instituted to answer some of the problems that have emerged.
Responses to social and economic changes are still evolving in most societies.
As the family is such a fundamental unit of society, a more comprehensive
understanding of the consequences of those changes for both individuals and
society as a whole must be sought before the appropriate social mechanisms can
be put in place. Among the social issues affecting the performance of family
functions today is the increasing number of unprotected families, including
single-parent families headed by poor women, destitute families, families
which are separated by working conditions of their members, refugee and
displaced families, families with disabled members or affected by diseases, as
well as families afflicted by disintegration, domestic violence and child
abuse or neglect. Of particular importance is the recognition that single
mothers with children form a disproportionate share of the poor. The economic
and social insecurities associated with the female-headed household is a
matter of great concern, particularly for the development of young children.
XV. There is a continuing need for data collection and analysis directed
toward monitoring changes in the structure and dynamics of the family, as well
as in the understanding of the ways in which economic and social trends and
policies affect and are affected by changes within families. Some of the
important areas needing improved understanding are child care arrangements
and, more broadly, the interactions between women's, men's and children's
diverse roles, including their use of time, access to and control over
resources, participation in decision-making processes, and changes in norms,
values and beliefs.
XVI. Family well-being may depend, to an important degree, on the ability of
families to make informed choices concerning fertility. Such choice is a
basic right which also has important benefits for maternal and child survival
and health. Increased efforts are needed to ensure adequate family life
education which should address such issues as reproduction, sexuality, birth-
spacing, information about sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS), and
the parenting skills which are essential for promoting a deeper understanding
of responsibilities in a familial and interpersonal context, as well as the
promotion of family values. Families also play a crucial role in meeting the
health requirements of all their members; there is a need to support families
in this vital role.