On Wed, 04 Oct 2017 21:50:25 +1100, Bruce >
wrote:

>On Wed, 4 Oct 2017 03:36:39 -0700 (PDT), Cindy Hamilton
> wrote:
>
>>On Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 2:53:23 PM UTC-4, Bruce wrote:
>>> >On Mon, 2 Oct 2017 09:44:31 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> https://www.childtrends.org/indicato...married-women/
>>> >> The proportion of births to unmarried women has increased greatly in
>>> >> recent decades, rising from five percent in 1960 to 32 percent in 1995.
>>> >> After some stability in the mid-1990s, there was a gradual rise from
>>> >> 1997 through 2008, from 32 to 41 percent. The rate appears to have
>>> >> stabilized again, and was at 40 percent in 2014.
>>>
>>> Marriage has nothing to do with it. The 50s are over. Lots of people
>>> see marriage as a useless piece of paper. An unnecessary government
>>> (let alone church) approval of your relationship.
>>
>>It does provide legal protection for spouses. Everything from
>>parental rights, to Social Security benefits, to
>>the right to determine what happens to the body after death.
>>
>>That was uppermost in our minds when we got married.
>
>Lots of couples with children in the Netherlands are doing fine
>without being married. Also legally. Even though I'm married myself, I
>do find it rather bourgeois in this day and age.

I agree, if I were young today and starting out, marriage would be
very low on my priorities.