Feminism the Culprit for Family Breakup? A Controversial UK Study Says So

Is female empowerment to blame for the breakup of the traditional family? A recent study backed by the Anglican Church in Great Britain argues that very idea: "Female empowerment has contributed to the break-up of the traditional family, leaving a generation of children emotionally damaged" in the U.K. To no surprise the study and its claims have caused no small controversy in the U.K.

The study describes an increase in the number of mothers going back to work when their babies are less than a year old as a "massive" social change from generations past. This reality means that women are now less dependent on their husbands and this combination has greatly damaged the family, the study concludes. The study is based on responses from data gathered from 35,000 poll participants. The report says:

"Compared with a century ago, two changes stand out: first, most women now work outside the home and have careers, as well as being mothers. Seventy percent of mothers of nine-to-12-month-old babies now do some paid work, this compares with only 25 percent 25 years ago-a massive change in the way of life. Meantime, the children are cared for by someone other than their parents. Women's economic independence contributes to this rise. It has made women much less dependent on their male partner, as has the advent of the welfare state. As a result of increased break-up, a third of 16-year-olds in Britain now live apart from their biological father."

While the poll's findings are certainly worth pondering, a report by the London Telegraph quotes something from the research that is equally telling: 90 different studies suggest that children who do not have two parents living with them at home "suffer long-term damage."

Though this study does not establish a causal link between feminism and the destruction of the family, it is at least suggestive. Feminism, particularly in its more extreme manifestations, does not represent a worldview that promotes healthy families. God's ideal plan (Titus 2, Proverbs 31) is for mothers to serve in the home as the primary nurturers of children while fathers lead, provide and protect the family.

The blame for the breakup of the traditional family certainly cannot be laid solely-or perhaps even mostly-at the feet of feminism. Given the crucial role that the father is called to play in the life of the family (as set forth in Ephesians 5, for instance), AWOL fathers are equally-if not more (see God's dialogue with Adam in Genesis 3)-blameworthy for the meltdown of the family. Many mothers who are in the workplace are not there to build a formidable portfolio, but are working out of financial or circumstantial necessity. 

While feminism, at least as a worldview, is not what you might call "family-friendly," it indeed, seems to be only one of a number of factors that have left families gasping for life in a fallen world.