SOCIOL 2QQ3 - Test 2

Divorce rates increased after divorce legislation introduced in 1968 and 1987

These legal reforms made getting a divorce easier from a legal standpoint

Divorce rates are influenced by women's labour force participation, declining stigma surrounding divorce, and the introduction of child and spousal support

Limitations of Existing Data

Statistics Canada stopped collecting data on divorce in 2008 and did not provide data on divorce again until 2022

Divorce data is limited in that they do not capture the number of married people who have separated and no longer together but have not taken the steps to formally divorce

4 in 10 first marriages will end in divorce

Divorce statistics alone is problematic as it underestimates relationship dissolution

The Financial Implications of Divorce and Relationship Dissolution

Throughout Canada, married couples are entitled to an equal division of assets upon divorce

This division of assets includes homes, investments, employer-sponsored pensions, and Canada Pension Plan income

Family law structures financial obligations to children and former partners

Family law regulates child support and spousal support

How Child Support is Determined

Child support is based on the incomes of each parent and the time the child spends with each parent

When one parent earns significantly more than the other, they pay child support to the other parent

Child support can continue past the age of 18 for children in post-secondary education

Rationale for child support is that children of divorce or parental relationship breakup should be able to experience a similar standard of living in both homes

Section 7 expenses

Individuals might also be required to pay additional expenses related to the child

Section 7 - found in the Federal Child Support Guidelines

Include those related to childcare, medical and dental care, schooling and postsecondary education and extracurricular activities

How spousal support is determined

Monthly sum of money given to a former cohabiting partner or spouse

Can be awarded by family courts if there is a discrepancy in income or when one person was financially dependent on their partner throughout their relationship

May be awarded for a short period of time for relationships of short duration - 3 to 5 years

Longer duration - can be awarded for as long as life - even past retirement

Spousal support reflects the Canadian courts' recognition of gender inequalities in the labour force stemming from women's domestic roles

Self-represented Litigants

Representing themselves in family court cases

Becoming more normative

Self-represented litigants come from all income and educational levels and have different reasons for wanting to self-represent rather than hiring a divorce attorney

Changes to the Divorce Act in 2021

Terms 'custody' and 'access' will no longer be used

Instead, the terms 'decision-making responsibility' and 'parenting time' will be used in all court documents moving forward

Make divorces less confrontational

the best interests of the child

Includes consideration of children's needs, among these the need for stability, and that parents and others cooperate with each other and support children's relationship with both parents

Issues that may have been overlooked

Children's cultural, linguistic, and religious and spiritual upbringing and their heritage

Issue of relocation

The Divorce Act provides specific rules of procedure for when one parent would like to move and that move will impact the parenting time of the other parent

Causes of Relationship Dissolution

Determinants and Predictors

Determinants

contributing factors that might not be direct or principal causes

Predictors

correlates that typically precede relationship dissolution and influence its likelihood in sometimes complicated ways

Effects of divorce and relationship dissolution

Men and women who divorce have higher risk of being depressed in the two years following the end of the relationship

Divorcing fathers seven to nine times more likely to die by suicide than are divorcing mothers

Household labour motives for a divorce, more for women

Changes in father-child contact are more closely linked to the mother's subsequent remarriage than to the father's

Divorce may be associated with increased levels of anxiety and depression in children

Effects on Adults

One major effect is economic - for men and women

- But particularly for women, incomes decrease

Economic distress can contribute to generalized psychological distress

Emotional stress of interpersonal conflict and the loss of partner

Variation in how people fare following the end of a relationship - often tied to access to social support and financial resources

Gender Differences

Men - temporary

Women - long term

Benefits of Relationship Dissolution

Many benefits for children particularly in relationships that were characterized by a high degree of conflict

Relationship dissolution can create new households where conflict is minimized or eliminated

- Presence of lawyers, mediators, child custody assessors, etc. Can provide a level of accountability and oversight in problematic situations where children are being impacted by conflict, abuse, and addiction

Parents become more attentive to the needs of their children - may parent more effectively outside of a relationship context

Sole Custody and Parenting Time

Mothers are more likely to have sole custody than fathers

More than half of parents who do not have sole custody see their child at least once per week while they are with the other parent

More than half of parents who do not have sole custody live less than 10 km from the home of the other parent

Parental level of satisfaction of time spent with children increases as frequency of contact increases

Employment Schedules of Parents

Parents with more flexible work hours are in a better position to care for young children

Many women make decisions about paid work to facilitate childcare even before the relationship ends

Variation in outcomes

Breakup outcomes are varied

The financial impacts are often different for men and women and will differ depending on age, duration of relationship, and employment situation of each partner, and whether the individuals lived together or were married

Presence of children adds further complexity to breakups

Effects on Children

The effects of parental relationship dissolution on children varies by many factors, including the age of the child at the time of relationship of relationship dissolution

Parental Conflict

Children fare best when their parents are doing well emotionally, physically, and financially

The parent's ability to parent effectively is an important predictor of how children cope following parental relationship dissolution

Children exposed to family violence fare better later on

Children who are exposed to prolonged parental conflict are adversely impacted in many ways

Children from high-conflict divorced families are more adversely impacted than children from low-conflict divorced families

Economic Insecurity

Individuals often experience downward social mobility

More likely to be experienced by women

Women's lower income results in a situation where women cannot qualify for a mortgage on their won - relies on rental housing; unable to build home equity

Caregiving responsibilities hinders their impact to earn a higher income

Unattached women between 18 and 64 without children are slightly more likely to own a home than their male counterparts

Suggests that motherhood reduces Canadian women's opportunities for home ownership

Family Transitions

Children can be exposed to a lot of transitions and family reconfiguration if their parents repartner or experience subsequent relationship breakups

Blended families tend to experience greater financial challenges, and this can adversely impact children

Number and nature of transitions that children experience are just as important as experiencing parental relationship dissolution

A Critique of Earlier Research

Researchers instead suggest that children are resilient and have coping strategies

Parental dissolution can lead to beneficial changes for children - especially when they experience different adult caregivers

Research had repeatedly showed that the effects of divorce on children as well as on parents depend on what is happening in the family before divorce and quality of family relationships during and after the divorce

Ex. If family is violent - divorce might provide relief

The negative long-term effects of divorce on children may have become so exaggerated that it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy

kids of divorce Health and Well-Being

Divorce can increase the risk of adolescent depression in two ways

- Source of many secondary problems and stresses that cause depression

- Can alter youth's reactions to these stresses, sometimes increasing the depressive effects

Economic hardships can also increase the risk of depression

On the other hand, separation and divorce can improve family functioning

Lower levels of stress and better co-parental relations than sole-custody mothers

Joint Physical Custody/Shared Parenting Time

Joint Physical custody (aka Shared Parenting Time) is becoming more common in Canada, and a growing number of children are spending equal amounts of time in each parental home

Research proves that joint physical custody can have positive effects on children and parents - more research needed

Research is unclear and is needed

Positive Effects on Children

Children develop coping skills, an ability to manage conflict and difficult situations, greater emotional resilience, and independence

Divorce can lead to an expansion of social networks and support for children

Gain additional family members

Parental divorce results in stronger parent-child relationships

Unpaid Labour

refers to any unpaid work to care for family members and maintain a household

- Tasks such as cleaning, childcare and elder care

- May be done in a different household

Domestic Labour

used to refer to all of the work involved maintaining a home including caring for family members

Caregiving

Involves the care of children or ill, injured, elderly, and dying family members and of family members with a disability

Includes tasks such as helping an elderly parent with banking, personal care, and housework

Changes in work and family

Majority of mothers are in full-time employment; women continue to carry a disproportionate burden for unpaid labour

Women do more unpaid labour than men

Women spend less time on leisure pursuits

We have more seniors than children - caregiving needs will intensify

Government supports to seniors such as home care, are inadequate

Fewer adult children available to share elder care

What does domestic labour entail

Involves childcare, meal preparation, the work involved in cleaning and maintaining a home and surrounding yard or property, and taking care of the needs of individual family members, such as ensuring that they are clothed and fed and that their physical and emotional needs are met

Eldercare and other types of caregiving:

Elder care may be harder emotionally than caring for children

Involves declining physical and perhaps cognitive abilities and unpredictable medical crises

Women have to reduce their hours of paid work in order to perform elder care

Sandwich generation

describes individuals who are caring for children and aging parents simultaneously

Living Arrangements of Seniors

Many seniors in their nineties live in households either alone or with other family members rather than in nursing homes

The Outsourcing of Unpaid Labour

Unpaid labour is commonly outsourced to women who come from more marginalized backgrounds, including newcomers, migrant labourers, women of colour, and poor women

Wages to these women are considerably lower than the average wage earned by Canadian women because this labour is defined as women's work and because the pay grade is oriented in relation to women's salaries

The Multifaceted Nature of Unpaid Labour

Grocery Shopping:

- Requires mental labour, such as identifying items that need to be replenished, writing a list, meal planning, reading food labels, and calculating the cost of groceries in order to stay within one's food budget

- Grocery shopping also requires emotional labour, such as considering the likes and dislikes of various family members, and health-related issues such as food allergies or intolerances and nutritional needs

The Unpredictability of Caregiving and Domestic Labour

Unpredictable nature of pet care applies to most form of unpaid labour

Not knowing when a family member might become ill or hospitalized, be in need of a doctor's or dentist's appointment, or be in need of emotional support makes unpaid labour challenging and fundamentally incompatible with the more structured orientation and demands of the labour force

Unpredictable processes are incongruent with the realities of most workplaces

Home maintenance issues are unpredictable, such as when there is a plumbing or heating emergency that must be taken care of immediately

Sick Days

To take care of a sick or injured family member, often have to use their own vacation days or sick days to do so

Parents may go to work when they themselves are sick because they have used up their own sick days to care for their children

Impact on Physical and Mental Health

Marriage benefit's men's health

The same is not true for women

Single women report better health than married women

Marriage offers a protective health benefit for men, yet the burden of housework and childcare has a detrimental impact on married women's health

Housework and childcare reduce the time women can spend on self-care, leisure, sleep, exercise, and medical appointments

Factors Associated with the Division of Unpaid Labour

Women in male-breadwinner families and are not employed do more unpaid work

Women in dual earner families who work part time do more unpaid labour than women in dual-earner families who work full time

Men in dual-earner families do more unpaid labour than men in male-breadwinner families

Gender inequalities in the division of household labour are narrowing over time; men doing more than they've done in the past

Much of this is due to women reducing the time they spend on household labour

Modify their approach - doing more on weekends than during the week

Gender Inequalities in Unpaid Labour

Women perform a disproportionate amount of unpaid labour, even when they work the same number of full-time hours as their male partners

Gender inequalities are greater at midlife as women care for both children and aging parents

Gender segregations in tasks is common

Women do more emotional and personal care

Men do more home maintenance and repair

The Second Shift

Describes the greater share of housework and caregiving that women performed, likening it to a second shift of work after women returned from their first shift in paid work

Economy of Gratitude

Wives felt lucky and grateful for having husbands who did any amount of domestic labour because they were aware that not all husbands did

Perceptions of Fairness

Men perceive it as fair

Women report being less likely than men to being satisfied

Women more likely to express dissatisfaction include women with children under 15, Canadian-born women, and women who work full time

Gender Disparities in Earnings and Caregiving

More women than men graduate from Canadian universities

Men entering professions historically dominated by men - medicine and law

Women contributing a greater share to household income than ever before

Earnings have been historically constant

Women with children earn less

other definitions of earning gap between mothers and child free women

"child penalty", "family gap", or "motherhood earnings gap"

The Needs of Children

Some women need to scale back their careers

Lone mothers may not be able to accept work in the evening unless they have alternative childcare, such as help from relatives or a nanny or babysitter who is willing to work in the evening

The needs of children inform the decision making of women

Housing Crisis

Lack of affordable housing and social housing has been described by many as a "housing crisis" and an "intergenerational injustice"

Rental housing has also become unaffordable

Increasing numbers of people homeless and on waiting lists for subsidized housing

Accessible Housing

Lack of accessible rental accommodations for individuals with disabilities

Lack of affordable housing deters relationship formation and may lead individuals to forgo or delay having a family

Housing and Families

Young adults live with their parents

Conflict may arise when there is a lack of space or privacy

Inequality in Housing

A growing number of homeowners are receiving significant financial gifts from parents to put toward down payments - exacerbating social inequality

Gifts from parents represented a critical path for home ownership as this was the primary source of down payment money for the majority of first-time home buyers

Intergenerational Injustice

Older Canadians who purchased their homes before have benefited from rising home prices

Housing has increased wealth inequality in Canada; Canadians who own multiple properties own one-third of all residential properties in Canada

How Canadians Are Responding to the Housing Crisis

Moved to rural areas or out of province

Moving to other countries for retirement

People are now moving away from family, those family support and intergenerational kinship ties are impacted

Laneway homes

Co-ownership

Temporary strategy to build equity to purchase their own home

Co-ownership is a long term choice

Some married couples with children into co-ownership with a second family

Single mothers also pursuing co-ownership with other single mothers

Rent out basements

Technology's Influence on Dating and Intimate Relationships

People use social media to find new dating partners

Revolutionized how people meet

Tailored to groups such as seniors, single parents, professionals, and individuals who identify as belonging to specific religions

Norms and Expectations of sex

Sexting has become more common

Dating apps have made sex more convenient and accessible and may place more pressure on individuals to have sex earlier on in a dating relationship

Sexting

refers to the exchange of sexually explicit messages or images, typically using cellphones

Ghosting

occurs when a person who wants to end contact with someone they have been involved with ignores all forms of communication and does not respond to texts, phone calls, and other messages

Zombieing

dating partner who resurfaces after they ghosted a former partner

Benching and Cushioning

refer to individuals who lead others on without any intention of forming a relationship

Breadcrumbing

occurs when a person puts in minimal efforts, such as irregular flirtatious texts, with the hope of luring a sexual partner

romance games

AKA mobile romance games or dating games

Almost like novels as they allow for user-driven storylines in which users are presented with various possible love interests that they select

Marketed to single women

Use it to replace or supplement real-life relationships during periods when they are between real-life relationships or dealing with a breakup

AI

AI used in manufacturing of sex robots and sex toys

More research needed to understand the potential harms

Ethical and legal questions also arise in relation to the kinds of sex robots being manufactured

Long Term Care

Seniors most likely hospitalized or die of COVID-19

Overhaul the long-term care system and to eliminate for-profit long-term care facilities

Pandemic exposed chronic underfunding and nursing shortages in long-term care facilities

Working Parents (Mothers)

Closure of schools and daycares placed enormous burdens on working parents

Women's burden intensified during the pandemic

She-cession - refers to the exit if women from the labour market that took place globally

Work-Life Balance

Pandemic raised questions related to work-life balance - the need to disconnect from technology and employer expectations of employees who work remotely

Technologies such as smartphones and email provide for 24/7 economy, and employment insecurity forces many Canadians to work excess hours because the fear that disconnecting may jeopardize their employment

Impact of School Closures

Pandemic underscored importance of in-person schooling for children and young adults in postsecondary education

School closures adversely impacted the physical and emotional well-being of children and youth

Family Violence

"Shadow pandemic" - increase in family violence

Dramatic rise in women reaching out for support, to crisis lines, shelters and other support services

Health Care

Long waiting lists

Shortage of palliative and hospice care

Health care system was designed to deal with acute illness, not chronic that are more typically are an aging population

Ex. Long waits for knee and hip replacements - adversely impacts the quality of life for patients

Home Care

Home care involves a nurse, personal support worker or some other health professional coming into the home to provide direct care, such as wound care

Access to home care is limited due to neoliberal economic policy

Less Canadians having partners, children will require more home care support

Elder Abuse

Will need to be greater monitoring of elder abuse to ensure that seniors are not being abused or victimized

Seniors are at risk of all forms of abuse and violence, including financial abuse

Economic Security

Employer-sponsored pensions plans are becoming less common

Majority of skip-generation families are in fact grandmothers raising their grandchildren on low incomes

Financial Abuse

Seniors are at risk of abuse from family members

Risk of predatory marriage and romance scams and other forms of financial exploitation by loved ones and others

Brought to attention of banks - greater measures to try to protect seniors

Sexually Transmitted Debt

Death and Dying

Strict eligibility requirements to EI

Low benefits, and limits on the amount of time a person can qualify for support

Privacy and Security

AI and Wi-Fi connectivity of sex robots and sex toys raise privacy issues as the confidential information of users has been violated

Hacking has become more common

Need for greater security in online environments

Infidelity

Social media have been blamed for what is perceived to be an increase in various types of infidelity including sexual infidelity and emotional infidelity

Cheating can occur through secret accounts and burner phones

Social media blamed for harming marriage and intimate relationships by providing greater and more convenient opportunities for individuals to find new partners or be unfaithful

Micro-cheating

Micro-cheating

Minor interactions such as liking a person's social media posts

Childbearing and new reproductive technologies

Websites to find people donor eggs, sperm, embryos and surrogates

Websites for people interested in platonic parenting, or co-parenting that provide information about co-parenting agreements and profiles of people interested in platonic parenting

Wearable Technology

Used to monitor health and well-being of seniors and individuals with health issues

Viewed as cost-efficient than providing in-person home care

During COVID-19 oximeters were purchased to monitor their own oxygen saturation levels

Remote work and work-life balance

Reliant on technology for work and maintaining connections with family

Hybrid work - both in person and remotely

Has advantages - more affordable housing and greater flexibility for caregiving

Keeps a greater number of Canadians in the labour market

Risks posed by technology

Catfishing - occurs when someone takes on a false identity in their online communications

Sextortion - type of extortion that occurs when an individual shares a sexually explicit video or photo of themselves

Cyber-Exploitation

Revenge Porn - involves an individual posting sexually explicit images of a person online to cause harm and to control the individual

Deep-fake technology: allows people to make unreal videos of others

Cyber-exploitation is subject to criminal prosecution in Canada and other countries, a growing number of litigations have resulted in financial settlements

Romance scams

Catfishing is often used in relation to romance scams

Romance scams how now become the number one type of fraud in terms of the amounts of money involved

Seniors are more vulnerable due to their lack of experience with online dating, their isolation, and their loneliness

Separate Bank Accounts

Separate bank accounts are more common among couples in new relationships, common-law relationships and relationships in which one or both partners have previously been divorced

Separate accounts are used varies by gender

Women more likely to use separate bank accounts for collective expenditures, such as to save for family vacations, whereas men are more likely to use separate bank accounts for personal expenditures

This is consistent with the finding that women are more family focused in their spending

Joint Bank Accounts

Opening of a joint bank account, may accompany the transition to a cohabiting or marital relationship

As some relationships headed in the direction of cohabitation, money was viewed in collective terms

LAT women with children were unwilling to give money or belongings to a partner, even one they anticipated living with

Viewed their income as money for themselves and their children

Gender and Economic Inequality

Women experience lower levels of personal spending with that of their partner, financial deprivation, lack of access to a male partner's income, and lack of decision-making power over financial matters

Allowance System

One-way women can experience economic inequality is through adoption of the allowance system, whereby a woman does not have access to her male partner's income but instead receives a monthly or weekly allowance

Cohabiting couples who shared a biological child were the most likely to use the allowance system and that women experienced financial deprivation with this particular allocative system

Partial Pooling Systems

Couples keep incomes in separate bank accounts but contribute equally to shared household expenses, has increased alongside increases in cohabitation and women's labour force participation

Given that women earn less than men, partial pooling system reinforce women's economic inequality since contributions to shared expenses are not proportional to income - results in lower levels of personal spending and saving for women

Secondary Poverty

poverty that women experienced as a result of men not sharing their pay equitably with their families

Micheal Young (1952)

argued that when married men gave inadequate spending allowances to their partners, this left women with no choice but to seek paid employment.

doing gender

Women "do gender" when they don't use their economic power to gain influence over financial decision making or the division of housework

Homogamy

Refers to marriage between two people who share similar backgrounds in terms of socio-economic status, but it also extends to include socio-demographic variables such as race, ethnicity, culture, and religion

- Historically, parents had an interest in ensuring that their children married within the same social class

Predatory Marriage

is a term associated with marriages where an individual pursues marriage solely for financial gain

- This often involves a younger person marrying an older individual with the objective of assuming control over that person's financial affairs and gaining access to their assets, pension, or property

Sexually Transmitted Debt

refers to debt that accrues between two people who are in an intimate relationship

- Sexually transmitted debt is frequently used to describe the situation of women who lack knowledge about financial matters and agree with marital or common-law partners to sign financial documents, such as business loans, that make the women responsible for the debt

- Financial transparency is typically absent, and women are removed from the financial and business affairs of their partner

- Elements of control and abuse sometimes operate to give men leverage and keep women in the dark about the extend of the financial risk they are exposing themselves to

Grey Divorce

term given to divorces among Canadians over the age of 50

No-Fault Divorce

enlarged the "fault grounds" under which a divorce could be granted, but it also allowed divorce without accusations of wrongdoing in the case of "marital breakdown", which required three years of living apart, or five years if both partners did not agree to divorce

Kin-Keeping

ensuring that relatives, even distant relatives, stay connected through activities such as sending holiday cards, making phone calls, or planning events such as annual family picnics and gatherings

- Most likely women

- Not until kin-keeper no longer performs this labour, family members realize that this connection has been lost

Pay equity

legislation provides that women and men receive the same pay if they are working in jobs that are of equal value