Men + Women Apart Partnering in Australia
By Bob Birrell, Virginia Rapson and Clare Hourigan, Centre for Population and Urban Research Monash University, for the Australian Family Association, March 2004
Men and Women Apart provides new information on changes in family patterns in Australia between the mid-1980s and today which is essential in understanding the current demographic dilemmas.
The study shows that Australia has experienced a sharp decline in levels of partnering, particularly married partnering, among young people in their late twenties and thirties. By 2001, 41 per cent of males and 34 per cent of females aged 30 to 34 were not partnered. Most of the decline in partnering has occurred among men and women who do not hold tertiary degrees. Contrary to much of the literature on the subject, partnering rates among degree-qualified men and women have stabilised. Much of this has to do with the deterioration in the economic circumstances of men without post-school qualifications. For their part, women are now in a stronger position through their engagement in the workforce to be selective in their choice of partners.
The consequences of this revolution in partnering are profound. They explain much of the decline in fertility over recent decades. The study shows that when women do marry, by age 35 to 39 years, they almost have at least one child. The problem is the drastic decline in the proportion of young women who are married. The decline in partnering is also linked to the rise in the number of lone parent households. They now account for more than one in five households with young children. Among men, the main losers are those on low incomes. Their partnering rates are low and their marital breakdown rates are high, leaving very large proportions living alone, in group households or at home with their parents.
The report is available from the Australian Family Association at a cost of A$25 including postage and handling.