Sir, It was suggested in your editorial of May 24th that for many young women in deprived areas, pregnancy and the establishment of one's own home with a baby may be positively sought out. Having conducted over 50 in depth interviews with single pregnant women, I found there was no evidence to support this suggestion. There were many reasons why women became pregnant which certainly need to be addressed, but the supposed incentives of the social welfare system were not among them.
With regard to Mary Harney's proposed measures to encourage the establishment of stable relationships and discourage one parent households, the following comments are relevant. Most study participants valued the notion of the two parent family and there was not one case where state benefits to single mothers were the basis for relationship breakdown. Among the reasons for relationships ending or being threatened were lack of support from the male partner, or women's experiences of injustices in the relationship.
I suggest that Ms Harney consider the complexities of the measures she is proposing. Two parent families seem to be a good thing for children, but a society must also examine itself in terms of justice for women. While there are many supportive male partners and fathers in families. the bulk of research indicates that men's involvement in household and nurturing work is at best as "helpers" rather than as equal participants, even where their paid employment is considered, and in many instances women end up servicing men's needs along with everything else.
The possible effects of Ms Harney's proposals would be to drive women further back into dependent roles and force them to remain in oppressive or unhappy relationships, or to live indefinitely with parents in adulthood. If women got a more egalitarian deal out of marriage and quasi marriage, there would be far less need to push them to the edge of survival in order to propel them into "stable" relationships. Yours, etc.,
Ranelagh Road,
Dublin 6.