This Week's Soapbox

CHOOSE YOUR MARRIAGE

Marriage has changed tremendously over the last 30 years in Spain. What`s the matter? Is marriage becoming obsolete?

I don´t look back on those days with sentimentality because it was a hard time. Marriage was supposed to be the only context in which people could regularly have sex or raise children. Divorced or unmarried men were judged less qualified for a job, and sexually active single women were stigmatized. Furthermore, children born out of wedlock had no legal rights from the point of view of inheritance, healthcare and other matters.

 Women simply didn’t have the same rights as men. We needed our husband’s permission if we wanted to travel or to buy something. Then, around 1981, the Government recognised the equality of married women: they announced new laws and house rules started to change. A few years later, the discrimination against the female genre was totally eliminated, especially when Spain became a member of the European Union.

 Fortunately, nowadays, we have all kind of weddings. You can choose according to your condition. If you are a religious person you could have a church wedding, the nonbelievers a registry-office wedding and if you want to recognise your partner the best way could be a common-law marriage. Finally, if your partner has the same sex, you can have a gay marriage. 

Consequently, the kind of wedding doesn’t matter. Today, nobody would be scandalized and nothing should surprise us. We just need to be respectful, polite and open-minded.

 Even if marriage becomes obsolete, true love will persist.

 

Fernanda NA2

 

Note from Diane: "soapbox" is a temporary platform where people stand to give their opinion about something. It's very typical to see and listen to orators on their soapboxes in Hyde Park, London on Sunday mornings. If you don't like what they are saying, you can simply shout, "Get off your soapbox, mate!"

Is there anything about which you'd like to get on your soapbox?