welsh  ( P ) Pronunciation Key (w lsh, wlch) also welch (wlch)intr.v. Informal welshed, also welched welsh·ing, welch·ing welsh·es, welch·es
[Origin unknown.] welsh  er n. |
Posted on 11/15/2004 11:19:54 AM PST by nickcarraway
FOR the first time since records began, the majority of Welsh babies are now being born outside wedlock.
In a revealing portrait of modern family life, government statistics published yesterday show Wales has become the only nation in the UK where births to unmarried mothers have tipped the 50% mark.
Less than 30 years ago the figure was less than 10%.
Leading members of the Roman Catholic church in Wales and campaigners for "traditional family values" were last night appalled by the figures.
Father John Owen, spokesman for the Archbishop of Cardiff, said, "Any analysis of where these figures are can be mapped socially to the areas that we call alienated and depressed, and which have been labelled deprived by the EU.
"I think - I'm certain - that teenage girls' pregnancies are a symptom of the hopelessness of the society in which they're living.
It's back to the old thing of lust or love and I think many young fathers are usually sexually immature and, in fact, incapable of providing anything more than a sexual gesture."
His colleague, Monsignor Brian Kinrade from the diocese of Menevia - which stretches from Pembrokeshire and Swansea to Powys - said, "I think the Catholic Church feels very sad that so many young single mothers don't have the support of a committed, loving partner which, we feel, is so vital.
"I'm saddened children don't grow up with the presence of their father and we know that can affect their social development.
"We're not just condemning single mothers as bad mothers - they need the support of a loving partner, and the children do so even more.
"I think there's a part of people feeling there are more choices these days and they don't have to marry and there's a reluctance for people to commit themselves in a relationship.
"I think, sadly, family life is the poorer because of the lack of commitment and, sometimes, a certain selfishness on the part of people who have given birth to babies.
"But somehow people aren't recognising that marriage is the bedrock of society and if you don't protect marriage and children then I think the fabric of society is crumbling, really."
In 1976, just 8.6% of Welsh births were outside marriage. Within two decades that figure had soared to 41%.
And yesterday, the Office for National Statistics revealed that for 2003 the figure had crept over 50% for the first time.
Wales has witnessed a figure of more than 50% in exceptional months before, but never for a whole-year figure.
Meanwhile, the comparative 2003 figures for the rest of the UK were 45.5% for Scotland, 40.9% for England and 34.4% for Northern Ireland.
It comes against a background of a falling number of marriages and rising divorce.
Marion Kloep, a reader in psychology at the University of Glamorgan and expert in family roles said, "This is a trend all over Western Europe and it has to do with the value of marriage disappearing."
She said the increasing economic independence of women and the traditional male need for heirs had changed the family make-up of contemporary Western nations.
"We're moving into a totally different society," she added, "This is a society in a state of flux. Fifty years ago if you had a job and were married that was it for life, but nothing is stable now. It gives a lot of freedom of choice - but also insecurity."
Norman Wells, spokesman for traditionalist pressure group Family and Youth Concern said, "We're concerned to see this rise because marriage is more than just a piece of paper.
"Cohabiting relationships are much less stable than marriage and cohabitations with children are even more likely to break up than childless ones."
I know a few Welsh couples in America. All are married and all have children. It is not the people, it is the socialism that destroys the traditional family...
Pretty much all the UK/Scottish couples I know don't bother getting married, kids or not.
Ending the welfare nanny-state would reinforce the NEED fr stable marriages, families, and communities.
Welfare sucks the life out of people and should be eradicated.
the majority of Welsh babies are now being born outside wedlock.
I lost a bet over this, but I’m not going to pay it.
It's usually a sympton of having sex.
Liberal social welfare policies take away the financial disincentive for this.
Liberal social mores take away the stigma.
What else do you expect to happen?
The title of this article is poorly worded and misleading. Nothing has happened to the value of marriage. It's just that more people (welsh in this article) are disrespecting the value of marriage.
INGSOC at work.
The government is more reliable than any daddy....
Besides, any woman who actually loved a man wouldn't shackle him under the hopelessly unfair UK divorce laws.
Even in the US, a woman I truly loved and I wanted to have my children wouldn't bind me with the Violence Against Family Members act and community property laws.
There are so many single mothers because they have the option of marrying the welfare state instead of the father of their children.
They are a symptom of a society that financially underwrites that type of behavior, Father.
Families perpetuate allegiances to one another. This is counter to 'productivity'.
People that are not dependent on the state for support will be reticent to contribute 100%.
There is a reason for this. It directly relates to socialism. Check out what has happened to native American families.
http://www.neoperspectives.com/NativeAmericans.htm
There are HUGE disparities between tribes and it seems to relate to the extent government programs subsidize single mother hood. Sweden is the same way.
African Americans also have had traditionally high single mother rates. This is falling now that welfare reform is working.
Does anyone recall the images of great poverty but also of faith in South Wales between the wars depicted in this novel? How did we come to this? How far into prosperity and so far lost.
That's welch, not Welsh.
| welsh ( P ) Pronunciation Key (wlsh, wlch) also welch (wlch) intr.v. Informal welshed, also welched welsh·ing, welch·ing welsh·es, welch·es
[Origin unknown.] welsh er n. |
That's a stinker.
I'm still not paying. :)
"Even in the US, a woman I truly loved and I wanted to have my children wouldn't bind me with the Violence Against Family Members act and community property laws."
So, you're opposed to marriage? Burned, were you?
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