Topics / Gender, sex and family
Should the state actively promote marriage and two-parent families?
Should governments use tax, benefits and public messaging to encourage marriage and two-parent families, support children equally whatever their family form, or stay out of decisions about family structure altogether? The disagreement turns on how far family structure itself shapes children's outcomes, whether policy can change family behaviour, and what role the state should play in private life.
Positions
- Yes: Children do better on average when raised by two committed parents, and marriage is the institution that most reliably provides that commitment. The tax and benefit system should therefore support marriage and stop penalising couples who live together.
- Support all families equally: The state should support every child according to need, whatever their parents' relationship status. Using tax and benefits to favour marriage diverts help from the children who most need it and stigmatises lone-parent families.
- No state role: Whether and how adults form families is a private matter. The state should protect children and enforce the commitments people choose, but it should not use tax, benefits or messaging to steer adults towards or away from any family form.