What's the future of "Family"?

“To be or not to be” - Hamlet’s famous dilemma could perhaps be well applied to the question of marriage and family today. With life becoming faster, and relationships more volatile, the dilemma of whether to have an arranged marriage or whether to sustain live-in relationships, is increasingly attracting more debate.

A recent report by Gulf News discussed the issue Pre-Marital relationship from the perspectives of various readers. As expected, it generated strong but mixed reaction. You can read them all here.

Why do people get into pre-marital relationships?
A Gulf News online poll indicated “loneliness” was the top reason (see pie chart). This may be true for a fast developing metro like Dubai, where there’s a substantial population of singles – who came here to shape their career and earnings. However chances are also great that most of these singles are into some kind of relationship with a similar partner – either in a live-in setting or otherwise.

In fact “live-in”, “single-mother” and “single-father” households are perhaps gaining in popularity worldwide. A recent US census indicated that for the first time in 6 years, marriage did not figure in nearly 50.2 % of American family households. It says that: “Unmarried couples gravitated toward big cities… while the farm states…and rural communities… remained bastions of traditionalism.”

Looking at the break-neck speed that Dubai is developing with, it wouldn’t be long when we’d see a similar trend here too. Modern lifestyle, Cost of living and Lengthy work hours force singles to indulge in casual, no-frills relationships, which stay away from getting married, just because responsibilities and social pressures of “married couples” are too much to cope up.

But since UAE law is based upon Shariah, how such relationships are allowed to exist in Dubai? Is it because another law discourages person to sponsor a married partner on basis of lower monthly income? Is there any trend that we’re looking at, but not accepting?

And talking of families, it is now a widely known phenomenon that - thanks to steep rise in rents and hence inflation - many of the middle-class households are breaking into singles – thus leaving the ground open for casual relationships among expatriates. Maybe soon we’d see “raising families” draw the least attention among priorities among Expats in Dubai. Again, is there anything we’re missing out here?

Your turn dear readers…

Technorati :Society. Culture. Pre-marital. Psychology. Behaviour. Family