Majority think it’s better to cohabit before marriage
The Family Support Agency-funded study — Attitudes to Family Formation in Ireland — also found very positive attitudes to marriage.
Among the 1,400 adults surveyed, three out of four cohabiting people said they would “definitely” or “probably” get married in the future.
Being married was associated with the greatest level of overall wellbeing, with cohabiting at the next highest level.
At the lowest wellbeing level was being single, with older single women being at particular risk.
Single mothers also have the lowest level of wellbeing of all groups, closely followed by single men in the lower income bracket.
There was strong support among men and women for women’s financial independence but their progress in the workplace was perceived by more than half of those surveyed as posing a threat to some men.
The results also showed that perceptions of women in the workplace are related to attitudes held about personal male/female relationships.
Close to half (45%) of the adults aged between 20 and 49 felt that “most men would find it intimidating to go out with a woman who has a high-powered job” and 57% felt that “career-oriented women can be more threatening to men”.
The findings suggest that women’s achievements in the workplace might come at a personal price and it was evident that many women fear a personal backlash over their success.
Half of those surveyed believe “being a wife and mother are the most fulfilling roles any woman could want”.
However, this attitude was not as strong as it was 30 years ago when 78% believed this was the case.
The study, launched by the Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald, found that 73% of women and 48% of men felt that while men recognised that women have to spend less time on housework, they don’t recognise that they still have to contribute more than they used to.
The study, by senior researcher Dr Margret Fine-Davis from Trinity College Dublin, also found that people felt social pressure to be in a couple, a pressure that impinged disproportionately on women, especially those in their 30s.
The results show that economic factors are having a major influence on people’s attitudes toward having children.
More than three out of four people questioned in the survey thought that: “these days most couples simply cannot afford to have more than two children”, while more than two out of three said the cost of living was restricting the number of children they would have.
There was almost unanimous support for the universal provision of childcare and over 60% felt that people with flexible working conditions would be more likely to have more children.
The study found that the increasing education of women and their greater role in the labour force was leading to the postponement of couple formation and childbearing.
And, if women did have a partner, it was often difficult to make the choice to have a child since childcare is so expensive and flexible working was not always available.
The report warned that unless greater social supports were provided to allow both parents to share child-rearing, women would continue to delay having children.
