Running head: DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS

Domestic Partnership Benefits An Assignment Submitted by Name of Student Name of Establishment Class XXXX, Section XXXX, September 2012

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS Domestic Partnership Benefits Statistics

Domestic partnership is rarely recognized by law, whereas, according to the statistics, the number of cohabiting partners keeps increasing. Currently, almost half of the American population (which is 104 million people) is unmarried (Key Facts about Unmarried Americans, 2012). Domestic partnership is the main explanation for the increasing number of unmarried people. Several decades ago, it was not typical for young couples to cohabit before getting married. At present, the majority of couples cohabit first, while many of them choose domestic partnership instead of marriage. For instance, the number of cohabiting partners increased by 88% in 2007, as compared with 1990 (Key Facts about Unmarried Americans, 2012). In the period of time from 1970 to 1997, the number of cohabiting couples increased more than 500% (Brym & Lie, 2009). Unmarried households are quite diverse in terms of age, race, gender, and income, but the fact that they are often stigmatized by public opinion negatively affects their way of living. By and large, a survey conducted in the United States has shown that Americans are for domestic partnership. Today, only 25% of households in America are represented by traditional families, and more than a half of population (57%) approve domestic partnership stating that a couple living together for at least five years is no less committed than the couple that has been married for the same period of time (Key Facts about Unmarried Americans, 2012). Besides, almost 68% of people who have been married but no longer are have reported that they are not intended to remarry. In terms of age, 46.6% of unmarried Americans are 18 and older; 23.0% of these are people of color and more than a half (53.4%) are female (Key Facts about Unmarried

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Americans, 2012). The majority of these people have not been married before (60.8%). This shows that unmarried population is represented by diverse people. Quite interesting are the ideas of young Americans (who are in their twenties) regarding the unmarried couples. Around 43% of them do not agree with the lack of benefits that unmarried couples often suffer from; they are convinced that cohabiting partners should enjoy benefits equal with the married ones. It is also worth mentioning that, in general, 90% of Americans believe that any type of family should be valued in the society, and the majority of them are convinced that unmarried households do not have any negative effect on children within them. As far as children are concerned, American households include them irrespective of whether the marriage is traditional or not. Almost 40% of cohabiting couples have children; at this, 41% of women have their first child from a cohabiting partner (Key Facts about Unmarried Americans, 2012). In this way, a considerable part of American society is for domestic partnership, irrespective of the idea that unmarried couples are not supported by the government. Nevertheless, there still remain people who criticize and even stigmatize couples that live together but are not joined by marriage. It is partially because of this criticism that unmarried people experience problems with employment and insurance. According to the statistics, 60.4% of unemployed people are not married, while 71.4% of people who do not have insurance are also not married (Key Facts about Unmarried Americans, 2012). The main problem within this issue is that healthcare benefits are rarely provided to domestic partners, because the majority of local governments are convinced that this can negatively affect state budgets. Several studies, however, have found that when these benefits are provided the increase in health care costs constitutes only 0.5%; in addition, 85% of the companies that started providing these benefits have confirmed that their healthcare expenses did not change significantly (The True Cost of

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Providing DP Healthcare Benefits, 2005). Other problems that unmarried people face are low income, impoverishment and lack of education. 22.2% of unmarried households have been reported to earn more than $75K annually as compared with 43.0% of married households (Key Facts about Unmarried Americans, 2012). Also, the number of unmarried people living below the poverty level is almost three times as big as the number of those who are married (14.7% and 5.2%, respectively). Thus, the perception of unmarried couples by society significantly affects their success, which is why the need in domestic partnership benefits is enormous for them. In conclusion, domestic partnership is quite common in American society, irrespective of the fact that such families are not supported by governments. Opponents of this way of relationships have quite strong beliefs that allow them disregarding and even disrespecting cohabiting without marriage. However, even their beliefs can be contested. It is only at first glance that domestic partnership seems to be a free marriage without liabilities. In reality, unmarried couples show the same level of loyalty and commitment as married ones. The most important is that domestic partnership often results in creating better families than in case with traditional marriage. Abstaining from traditional family life has its pros and cons, but, regardless of their number, there will always remain people willing to create families without legal approval for doing this. As mentioned in statistics, more than a half of unmarried population has never been married and 68% of all the unmarried Americans do not plan to marry in their lives. This all makes families created by unmarried couples equal to those created in traditional marriages, and, consequently, gives them a right to demand the same benefits. The greatest disadvantage of domestic partnership is that unmarried couples often suffer from the lack of benefits, such as, for instance, insurance breaks, the assumption of the spouses pension, child custody, etc. These and a number of other benefits should be guaranteed to unmarried couples, because the fact that their

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unions are not legally recognized does not mean that their families are less strong than traditional ones.

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS References

Brym, R.J., & Lie, J. (2009). Sociology: Your compass for a new world. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Key facts about unmarried Americans. (2012). Alternatives to Marriage Project. Retrieved Sept. 20, 2012, from http://www.unmarried.org/briefingkit.html. The true cost of providing domestic partner health care benefits. (2005). American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved Sept. 20, 2012, from http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights_hivaids/true-cost-providing-domestic-partner-health-care-benefits.

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