Familie ist Solidaritätsgemeinschaft - familienpolitik

Tories aim to put marriage back in fashion

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:20:00 +0200

Restoring the term "marital status'' and terms such as husband, wife and spouse, would send a "clear and unambiguous signal'' of the importance a Conservative government would attach to marriage, it said.

David Cameron welcomed the report and made clear that support for marriage would be a key dividing line between the Tories and Labour at the next election.

He stopped short of immediate tax commitments, saying he would have to work out what he could "sensibly and prudently" put in a manifesto. But he reiterated his promise to remove the "anti-marriage bias" from the tax and benefit system. Mr Cameron said the high rate of family breakdown was linked to the systems.

"Britain is almost the only country in Europe that doesn't recognise marriage in the tax system and the benefits system actively discourages parents from living together.

"We have the highest rate of family breakdown in Europe and we have the worst social problems in Europe," he said.

Labour said the proposals would discriminate against lone and unmarried parents but the Conservative leader accused Gordon Brown of playing "political games". "If he wants to defend the anti-marriage bias in our tax and benefits system, good luck to him. He's on the side of the past, and on the side of social failure,'' Mr Cameron said.

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Families at Forefront of Development

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:26:50 +0200

By Samantha Singson

(NEW YORK — C-FAM) Academics and experts from around the world warned UN delegates this week about the dangers of ignoring the family in governmental policies and programs while trying to achieve development. The delegates were attending the World Family Policy Forum hosted by Brigham Young University and the World Family Policy Center.

Dr. Maria Sophia Aguirre of the Catholic University of America presented a paper saying that “healthy families are essential for a country as they have a direct impact on human, moral and social capital, and therefore, on resource use, economic activity and economic structures.” Aguirre’s research underscored both the economic consequences of family breakdown. Abuse of women is 25 times more likely to occur in an irregular family. Men who have witnessed domestic violence are 3 times more likely to abuse their own wives and children. Women and children living in broken families have a higher probability of living in poverty. The breakdown of the family thus costs governments by increasing social welfares expenditures.

Aquirre studied the relationship of wealth and family structure in Canada, Guatemala, and the United States – three countries with very different government systems - and found that across the board, families with parents in stable marriages did much better economically than any other domestic arrangement in terms of net wealth, savings, and property ownership.

Other presenters at the conference highlighted various societal implications of family breakdown such as the impact of divorce, the family in conflict situations, the lack of paternal involvement and its negative effect on children and the demographic consequences of fewer marriages and plummeting fertility.

In an address by satellite from Doha, Qatar, Professor Richard Wilkins, founder of the World Family Policy Center surmised, “Despite the importance of the family, not enough private, academic, non-governmental and governmental energy has gone into the imagination and creation of a family-friendly modern world. This is an on-going tragedy because substantial evidence suggests that stable, well-functioning families are extraordinarily successful in reducing and even eliminating human suffering. The world needs policies to strengthen the family.”

The World Family Policy Forum was established in 1999 as a yearly meeting of concerned United Nations diplomats, opinion leaders, and scholars, focusing on international family policy issues. Participants discuss emerging trends on such topics as the natural family, the United Nations, human rights, marriage, gender, children’s rights, and sovereignty. Dozens of senior UN diplomats attend each year.

A UN delegate and a first-time participant to the World Family Policy Forum told the Friday Fax, “This conference has provided me with information to bring back to the United Nations and will serve to help my country and my delegation to bring the family to the forefront of our policy discussions.”

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Families at Forefront of Development

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:26:46 +0200

Familiy at war

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 09:13:34 +0200

The title of Patricia Morgan’s new book, The War Between the State and the Family, is fighting talk. But the British sociologist has a lot of evidence on her side when she alleges that modern governments are engaged in “systematic discrimination against (married) couples in the tax and benefit system.” (62) In the words of her subtitle, she aims to show "How Government Divides and Impoverishes" the family.

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European Parliament Urged to Support the Traditional Family

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:15:05 +0200

By Samantha Singson

(NEW YORK — C-FAM) The Madrid-based Institute for Family Policies (IFP) has issued a report to the European Parliament warning about “the deterioration of the family panorama.” Citing demographic, sociological and economic evidence from a team of experts, IFP called on EU delegations to make the family a policy priority and promote the traditional family as an institution, recognize the fundamental right of parents to educate their children and to adopt policies that support the development and well-being of the family.

Entitled “The Evolution of the Family in Europe 2007,” IFP presented the document with alarming indicators regarding population, birth rates, marriage and divorce rates to members of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, journalists and members of civil society.

According to the report, a child is aborted every 25 seconds, a rate that far exceeds any other external cause of in Europe including traffic s, AIDS and . The number of marriages has declined by 22.3% since 1980. Divorce rates are skyrocketing with one occurring every 30 seconds. One out of every three babies born in the EU is born out of wedlock. The report also underscores the changing face of Europe with a modest population growth rate that is attributable almost exclusively to immigration, an increasing aging population and a dwindling number of youth under the age of 14.

According to the report, of every 13 euros that Europe sets aside for social expenditures, only one euro is set aside for the family. Social spending on old age and health respectively account for 42% and 29% of total social program spending and expenditures in those areas continues to increase. By comparison, government expenditures on family and children account for only 7.8%.

Urging the European Parliament to adopt a “genuinely family-oriented approach,” the IFP has proposed a set of social, economic and cultural measures to promote the family. These include: the creation of offices that would be charged with promoting the family as a policy priority; the launch of media campaigns which promote the family and place value on childhood and maternity; and the increase of family benefits such as tax breaks, maternity and paternity leave and assistance for families caring for elderly relatives at home.

IFP president Lola Velarde told the Friday Fax, “The outlook for the family has worsened in a worrying fashion. The social, economic and demographic crises of recent decades have emphasized the role of the family unit as a highly effective cushion against problems such as unemployment, illness, housing, addiction and social exclusion. Nowadays the family is seen as a principal support element within society. It is essential that the different institutions and organizations support them, as well as the Member States, the local authorities and even public services and businesses.”

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Aus „Perestroika“ von Michael Gorbatschow.

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 17:25:00 +0200

„In den letzten Jahren unserer schwierigen und heroischen Geschichte haben wir es versäumt, den besonderen Rechten und Bedürfnissen der Frauen, die mit ihrer Rolle als Mutter und Hausfrau und mit ihrer unerlässlichen erzieherischen Funktion zusammenhängen, genügend Beachtung zu schenken. Heute engagieren sich die Frauen in der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, arbeiten auf Baustellen, in der Industrie und im Dienstleistungssektor und sind schöpferisch tätig und haben
daher nicht genügend Zeit, um ihren täglichen Pflichten zu Hause nachzukommen – dem Haushalt, der Erziehung der Kinder und der Schaffung einer familiären Atmosphäre. Wir haben erkannt, dass viele Mängel in unserer Moral, der Kultur, der Produktion – zum Teil durch die Lockerung der familiären Bindungen und die Vernachlässigung der Verantwortung verursacht werden. Dies ist ein paradoxes Ergebnis unseres ernsthaften und politisch gerechtfertigten Wunsches, die Frau dem Mann in allen Bereichen gleichzustellen. Mit der Perestroika haben wir angefangen, auch diesen Fehler zu überwinden.

Aus diesem Grund führen wir jetzt… Debatten über die Frage, was zu tun ist, um es den Frauen zu ermöglichen, zu ihrer eigentlichen weiblichen Lebensaufgabe zurückzukehren… Eine der dringendsten sozialen Aufgaben – auch eine Hauptaufgabe in der Kampagne gegen den allgemeinen Alkoholmissbrauch – ist es, das Wohlergehen der Familie zu verbessern und ihrer Rolle in der Gesellschaft breiteren Raum zu geben.“

Japan promoting adoption over abortion

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:34:07 +0100

Japan has also set up "public cradles against abortion". Following India, which last week launched a "cradles scheme" against abortions and foeticide of s, the Japanese Health Minister approved a decision taken by a hospital in Kumamoto to have a "baby box" for the public.

Hospital officials said the box was intended to ensure absolute privacy for those parents who wanted to abandon their newly born babies. The "box" is an incubator which is always working and monitored by a nurse of the hospital. Babies can be put there through an opening in the hospital wall.

Fakten statt Histerie

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:04:14 +0100

Die Diskussion, man sollte besser sagen, das Geschrei verläuft klassisch. Die Vertreter des politisch-medialen Establishments glaubten schon die Oberhand gewonnen zu haben über die Handvoll Leute aus ihren eigenen Reihen, die auf das Kindeswohl und die Schäden der Krippenbetreuung hingewiesen hatten, als der Augsburger Bischof Walter Mixa rief: Der Kaiser ist ja nackt. Das Establishment ist im Nerv getroffen. Die nackte Tatsache ist das Bestreben des gesellschaftlich herrschenden Milieus, alles in Funktion der Arbeit, der Produktion, des wirtschaftlichen Wachstums zu sehen. Das erinnert an die „totalitäre Arbeitswelt“ vor der schon Ernst Jünger warnte. Insofern hat eine Sonntagszeitung recht, wenn sie diese Debatte als „Kulturkampf“ bezeichnet.

Auf der einen Seite geht es um die Produktion, um die Vorfahrt für die Arbeit, also um die Sache, auf der anderen Seite um die Person, um den Vorrang für die Beziehung, also um den Menschen. Auch das ist symptomatisch: Die Vertreter der „Beziehungsfraktion“ gebrauchen zwar starke Worte („Gebärmaschine“, „ideologische Verblendung“), aber sie greifen nicht persönlich an. Dass Vertreter des sozialdemokratisch geprägten politischen Establishments, der „Arbeitsfraktion“, zu der in dieser Frage nun auch offen die Unionsspitze zu zählen ist, diese immerhin noch zur Sache geäußerten Worte als persönlichen Affront für die Ministerin interpretieren, gehört zu den Merkmalen einer emotional bis wütend geführten Debatte. Sie vergessen, dass diese Worte allzu gern auch von ihren eigenen Vertretern gebraucht wurden, wenn es darum ging, die Kirche zu verunglimpfen.

von Jürgen Liminski

Was bedeutet Wahlfreiheit?

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:23:24 +0100

Die Bundeskanzlerin hat auch das Kriterium benannt, an dem diese Absichtserklärung zu messen ist. „Die Freiheit der Wahl setzt voraus, dass man die Möglichkeit einer Wahl hat.“ Wer sein Kind in eine Gruppe Gleichaltriger unter professioneller Aufsicht geben will, um so schnell wie möglich in den Beruf zurückzukehren, kann das nur tun, wenn es den bezahlbaren Krippenplatz am Wohnort wirklich gibt. Aus der Tatsache der Annahme des Angebots folgt freilich noch nicht, dass sich die Abgabe des Kindes vernünftigerweise als Handlung der freien Wahl beschreiben lässt. Die Freiheit der Wahl setzt voraus, so ist Frau Merkel zu präzisieren, dass man zwei Möglichkeiten hat. Wie sieht es aber auf der anderen Seite aus? Wie steht es um die tatsächliche Möglichkeit, sich für die häusliche Erziehung zu entscheiden? Ist dort alles geschehen, was staatliche Rahmenbedingungen ermöglichen können?

von Patrick Banners

Work-Life-Balance im Europaparlament

noreply@blogspirit.com () — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 16:05:00 +0200

Auch wenn Wochenarbeitszeiten von 60 Stunden im Allgemeinen der Vergangenheit angehören, ist die Vereinbarkeit von Privatleben und Familie einerseits und Beruf andererseits für viele ein Dilemma. Anfang dieser Woche kamen Wissenschaftler, Arbeitnehmer-Vertreter und Europa-Abgeordnete im Parlament zu einer Anhörung zusammen, um über Arbeitszeitregelungen und den Ausgleich zwischen beruflichen Anforderungen und Lebens-Qualität zu diskutieren.