Same Sex Marriage

Its the legal union between two people of the same gender 

• Legalised on the 13th Marh 2014
• The first same sex marriage was on the 29th March 2014
• As of 2015, only 17 countries had laws allowing same sex couples to get legally married
• Since the laws have changed there has been 15,000 marriages
• 55% of marriages were female, 45% of marriages were male
• The average age for a woman is 37 and the average age for a man is 40

• Allows religious homosexuals the chance to go to church
• Human rights
• Getting married changes little in the home
• Help to establish norm/change
• Increases the amount of children successfully adopted

Sarah Fielding, Mary Hays and Mary Wollstonecraft- Feminists

Labelled marriage during the Industrial Revolution as "little more than a state of legal prostitution" and argued that poorer womensuffer the most oppression within marriage and they're under pressure to get married.

Crow and Hardey

Say its difficult to be clear about this as there are many different reasons why people become lone parents and because of a change of nature either through a death of a partner cohabitation or remarriage. Second marriages tend to have a higher divorce rate.

Wilkenson and Mulgan

Predicted 80% of couples would have lived together prior to getting married. Although those who live together before are far more likely to split. The changing nature of relationships and family structure tends to contradict Murdock.

Gonzalez

Argues against this saying that matriarchal families are often well organised groups. It would seem that any relationships that contradict the patriarchal norm are atypical, therefore should be restricted. This is particularly the case for same-sex couples as these  have not been fully sanctioned by any society.

New Right 

Disagree as it goes against the nuclear family.

Feminists 

Are in favour as it allows couples to be free from opression of marriage; breaking the 'traditional familiy'

Marxists 

At a very basic level, Marxists believe the nuclear family is a tool of the rulling class. The capaltilist system is built on the domestic labour of houswifes; thereforesame-sex marriages threatens the family's role