Thursday, May 10, 2001
Mexican survey shows that one in five
mothers is single, separated or widowed
A story released today by EFE reports that Mexico's Secretariat of Interior has
released a study indicating that one in five Mexican mothers is either single, separated,
divorced or widowed.
While nearly half of the women in Mexico are mothers, the report noted that 20 percent of
those mothers do not have partners. The report continues to say that out of the 20
percent surveyed, 8.5 percent are widowed and 7.8 percent are separated from their
partners.
The Secretariat of the Interior indicated that a recent report by the National Population
Council (Conapo) also confirmed the increase of marriages ending in divorce prior to their
10th anniversary.
Of the couples who married or began living together before 1967, 7.4 percent subsequently
divorced or separated, while among couples that formed after 1967, the figure climbed to
14 percent.
With a population of 98 million people, Mexico has 880,000 single mothers, with nine out
of ten having children under the age of 18.
The report also noted that most single mothers were over the age of 30, while divorced or
separated mothers are mostly range from 30 to 50 years of age. Mothers over the age of 50
tended to be widowed.
The release of the report coincided with the celebration of Mother's Day in Mexico.
Mexico has celebrated Mother's Day on May 10 since 1922.
Prime minister's marital status
intrigues Japanese people
A story released today by the Associated Press reports that Japan's new prime minister is
different from his predecessors. Aside from enjoying rock music, his divorce status has
peaked the media's interest who are now hotly pursuing the story behind the split in his
marriage.
The 59-year-old Junichiro Koizumi -- the first bachelor ever elected to Japan's top job --
has said little publicly about the separation.
In 1978, he married a student at an elite private university in Tokyo who was 15 years his
junior. They had three sons and divorced in 1982.
According to the Sunday Mainichi and Weekly Asahi tabloids, an aide pressured Koizumi to
break up with his wife for the sake of his political career.
Koizumi is a third generation politician who won his first seat in Parliament in his
father's district.
His ex-wife, identified only by her first name, Kayoko, told the Weekly Asahi that she
didn't fit the mold of a political family.
"I didn't make enough of an effort and wasn't able to support him," she was
quoted as saying.
Koizumi has hinted that he has no intention of remarrying, saying repeatedly that it
"took more energy to get divorced than to get married."
Tuesday, May 8, 2001
London study shows that women with
technology degrees are less likely to marry
A story published today by Ananova, a publication from England, reports that researchers
claim that women who undertake degrees in technology are least likely to marry.
The study by the Institute of Education in London has found more than 40% of female
technology graduates between 25 and 44 were unmarried.
The study also revealed that among women who graduated in natural sciences or non-science
subjects, the figure was 32%, while for those who studied subjects like medicine only 27%
remained single.
"The marriage rates in health subjects may be high because the jobs they lead to tend
to have the most feminized environments - a more or less 50-50 female-male split in some
occupations." said Louisa Blackwell of the Institute of Education in London.
"In subjects such as medicine, where there are more women, they are in a position to
push through family-friendly work practices, offering more scope for lifestyle
flexibility." she added.
British conservative leader pledges
hard-line stance on unwed mothers on upcoming elections
A story published today in the Guardian Unlimited reports that British conservative
leader William Hague yesterday unveiled a series of hard-line policies in an attempt to
shore up the Tory vote in the local and general elections scheduled on June 7.
At the launch of the Tory manifesto for the local elections, Mr. Hague pledged to put
pressure on councils to make unmarried young mothers live at home rather than take up
precious public housing.
Mr. Hague hopes to encourage a high turnout on June 7 by pledging to introduce a series of
hard-line measures that will appeal to traditional Tory supporters.
The pledges unveiled in the local election manifesto provided a taste of the rightwing
policies which will form the centerpiece of the Tories' general election manifesto.
In a section in the local election manifesto, entitled Helping Teenage Mothers and
Families, the Tories pledged to scrap Labor plans to house unmarried teenage mothers in
special hostels.
"The first question when an unwed teenager is pregnant should not be whether there is
council flat for her, but whether her parents can support her and her child when she
finishes school or look for work," the manifesto said. "Councils and housing
associations need to think very carefully about the signals they send out when they
allocate social housing."
Threatening to remove the right of unmarried young mothers to a council flat might upset
some Tories on the left of the party.
They remember the embarrassment the party faced in the 1990s when the former social
security secretary, Peter Lilley, launched his notorious "little list" crackdown
on teenage mothers.
The Tory leadership also underlined a couple of key issues that addresses local concerns
in its determination to fight the elections from the right.
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