to : Henry Burgess, Social Exclusion Unit, Cabinet Office, Room 131c/2, Horse Guards Parade, London, SW1P 3AL
tel: 0171 270 6910, fax: 0171 270 1971, email: hgurgess@cabinetoffice.gsi.net
Teenage Parenthood A brief submission to the Social Exclusion Unit, Cabinet Office
from The Cheltenham Group 9 November 1998 |
We respond briefly under the following questions
raised in the request of 7 October 1998 :
question |
3. |
4. |
5. |
34. |
Question 3
In the last 30 years or so we have experienced a social phenomenon not previously known. This is the social exclusion of men from the family, in terms of both :
those not marrying yet becoming fathers;
those who married yet were divorced against their wishes and excluded from a major part (if not all) of their childrens upbringing.
This history is explained in full in Cheltenham Group publications, notably The Emperors New Clothes : Divorce Process and Consequence [2], Marriage and Fatherhood : Important Information for Young Men [3], and subsidiary aspects in The NAPO Anti-sexism Policy & Lack of Available Remedies [4].
The latter two of these publications are available in full on the UK Mens Movements website, address www.ukkk.org.uk, at www.ukmm.org.uk/publics/mandf/booklet.htm and at www.ukmm.org.uk/camp/napo.htm.
The resulting social situation we have may be very simply described :
women, both young usually unmarried, and those older usually divorced, have massive privileges not available to men; these privileges include complete control over children, and great control over mens assets and future income; women may choose to have children, within or without a marriage, or to have a career; they have a lifestyle choice;
men meanwhile have no such lifestyle choice; they are not able to have children (and control them) outside of marriage; should they choose to marry, there is about a 50% chance that divorce, usually against their wishes, will remove their children and most of their investments.
The reasons this situation are twofold :
the massive support in benefits available to women to have children inside or outside of marriage, i.e. without men if they so choose;
the corrupt legal system of matrimonial and family law which has destroyed legal marriage and mens equitable rights in the family.
These reasons are well presented in a recent submission we have made to the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group titled Do Families Matter ? [1] in response to this groups report Family Matters of 15 July 1998. Our response Do Families Matter ? [1] is available at www.ukmm.org.uk/camp/dofm.htm.
Young women are fully aware of the privileged situation they enjoy, and take advantage of it. Similarly young men are very aware of the minimal stake they hold in society.
The situation we describe is essentially that it is men, both young and older, who are currently socially excluded. Yet your request for responses includes, on page 1, a reference to "supporting young parents" and on the final page "teenage parents are at disproportionate risk of social exclusion", suggesting that women may well obtain yet further support.
The unintended effects to be wary of is to provide yet more support for women in their lifestyle choice and so further alienate and socially exclude men.
Question 4
Previous attempts to tackle this issue have not succeeded simply because the causes, described in our response to question 3 and our other publications referred to there, have not been addressed by any recent Government. The reasons for this are that they are afraid of upsetting specific factions especially the feminist groups, lesbians etc..
The attitude of Government and Ministers is completely unrealistic, and is concerned with entirely peripheral issues. The latest example is Supporting Families - A Consultation Document published by Home Office on 4 November 1998.
Question 5
The only successful approach will be complete reform of the benefits system and of matrimonial and family law, such that men are given full and equal rights within the family, and further to ensure that young women and young men are aware of such reforms. We outline the principle reforms required of the legal system in Marriage and Fatherhood : Important Information for Young Men [3].
Any other approach will allow the present uncivilised situation to continue.
Question 34
This is entirely the wrong question with regard to young fathers. Young men must understand that they have responsibilities if they become fathers. However it is unreasonable to expect them to accept responsibilities without rights.
The present situation is that they only have responsibilities but no rights. They are likely to, and indeed do, resent responsibilities without rights.
This misguided question is simply indicative of present confused thinking amongst policy makers, Ministers and the Government.
References
Do Families Matter ? A Response to the Report Family Matters from The Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group of 15 July 1998, The Cheltenham Group, 28 September 1998.
The Emperors New Clothes : Divorce Process and Consequence, 2nd Edition, The Cheltenham Group, February 1998, ISBN 1 900080 03 6.
Marriage and Fatherhood : Important Information for Young Men, 2nd Edition, The Cheltenham Group, 1998, ISBN 1 900080 05 2.
The NAPO Anti-sexism Policy & Lack of Available Remedies, The Cheltenham Group, 11 June 1998.
This response is available in hardcopy form at £1.00
For further information you may contact :
The Cheltenham Group
PO Box 205, Cheltenham, Glos, GL51 0YL
Co-ordinator : Barry Worrall BSc MSc MBCS CEng