Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women

 

Family Matters

Backgrounder

November 19, 2001

The Nova Scotian population and its family structures are undergoing massive and fundamental changes. To ensure the viability of its future workforce, the economic strength of the province and to maintain and promote the health and well-being of its citizens, governments at all levels should address the serious policy implications of these changes. Awareness of the status of women over the life course is central to understanding and addressing these issues.  

 Young Nova Scotian women and men are increasingly delaying marriage or choosing not to marry at all. Women are also delaying childbirth and are having fewer children.
 

• Since 1976, the total first marriage rate (the proportion of persons marrying before their 50^th birthday) has declined by 21% for women and by 25% for men.
   
• Since 1971, the average age at which Nova Scotians are marrying has increased by 5 years for women and by 4.6 years for men. In 1996, the average age at first marriage was 27.2 years for women and 29.1 years for men.
   
• In 1997, 39% of births in Nova Scotia were to women aged 30 and over. In 1986 only 26% of births were to women aged 30 and over.
   
• Nova Scotians are having fewer children than in the past. In order to maintain population replacement levels, the total fertility rate must reach 2.1 children per woman. In 1997, Nova Scotia's total fertility rate was 1.45, down from 2.5 in the early 1970's and 4.16 at the height of the baby boom.

These demographic changes combined with Nova Scotia's continuing low rates of immigration have important implications for the future of the province and for young women. If the current trends in relation to fertility and immigration continue, Nova Scotia's population will begin to decrease and the labour force and tax base required to support the province's economy, infrastructures and social safety net will be greatly diminished. There is mounting evidence that delayed childbirth may play a significant role in the increasing levels of infertility present in our society.
 

These issues raise a number of questions. What are the primary reasons why Nova Scotians are delaying marriage and childbirth? Are Nova Scotian women delaying marriage and childbirth because they want to take advantage of educational and career opportunities? Are young Nova Scotians feeling so burdened by debt and constrained by financial instability that marrying and starting a family seems unfeasible? Do Nova Scotian women feel they have a choice about when they can start their families or the number of children they will have or are these decisions so constrained by economic circumstances or economic security considerations that little real choice remains?
 

The demographic changes described above have implications for policy makers in the public and private sectors. Some examples are:
 

• fiscal policy - to cope with the declining tax base
• labour market/human resources planning - to cope with the declining work force and to support families in balancing work and family life.
• immigration policies - to promote immigration to Nova Scotia
• economic security - to promote economic security for young women and men
• health - to cope with increasing pressure/demand for fertility treatments and services and for subsidy of these treatments/services

  
   

• Although married couples with children still comprise the majority of families in Nova Scotia, over the last 15 years, the percentage of common law families with children has increased by 169% and the percentage of female lone-parent families has increased by 58%.
   
• In the same time period, the percentage of married couples with children declined by 5% while the percentage of married couples without children increased by 26%.
   
• 20% of families with children in Nova Scotia are headed by female lone-parents, more than in any other province.
   
• Female lone-parent families are at very high risk of poverty. 57.5% of Nova Scotia's poor children live in lone-parent families.

Families headed by female lone-parents comprise the third largest family group in Nova Scotia after married couples with and without children. The implications of this for women and their children are many as lone-parent families are at much higher risk (close to ten times greater, according to the latest Nova Scotia Child Poverty Report Card) of living in poverty than two-parent families. Factors that are likely related to female lone-parent families' high rates of poverty include their low levels of education, low levels of labour force participation, and lack of available and affordable childcare.
 

Programs having the goal of addressing "child poverty" in Nova Scotia cannot ignore the situation of female lone parents. Effecting positive change for this group will have a large and diffuse impact as so many other areas are related to poverty, eg., physical and mental health, housing, etc. Most female lone-parents in Nova Scotia are not teenagers and need significant educational upgrading and skills training to enable them to earn a living for themselves and their children. Such adult education programs must take factors such as flexible scheduling and childcare into account.

The family structure changes described above have implications for several policy areas:
 

• labour standards - to address working conditions for non-standard employment and encourage the labour force participation of female lone-parents
• human resource policies - to promote personnel and work-place practices that are family friendly and balanced and to recognize women's paid and unpaid caregiving work
• social policy - to strengthen the social and economic security needs of lone-parent families
• education - with high school completion and retention as a starting point
• public education aimed at heightening awareness of the realities of lone-parenting
• child care - to promote increased availability and affordability
• improved access to educational upgrading and skills training for women in low-income situations.

The Nova Scotia population is aging: 
 

• The proportion of seniors in the province is increasing rapidly while the proportion of young people (as mentioned above) is declining. Over the next 25 years, it is estimated that seniors will grow to comprise a quarter of the population.
   
• Life expectancy is increasing for both women and men. In 1998, life expectancy at birth was 80.4 years for females and 77.8 years for males.
   
• The majority of seniors (58.2%) and the vast majority of older seniors (71% of persons aged 85 years and over) are women.
   
• Older women are much likelier to be widowed and to live alone than older men. 84% of widowed seniors are women. Three times as many women aged 65+ live alone than men aged 65+.
   
• Older women have lower incomes than older men. Older men receive more income from pension plans, most of which are tied to income earned over one's lifetime. Consequently, older women are more likely to be living in poverty than older men (15.4% versus 9.5%).
   
• Many older women have some form of disability. Close to 97% of women aged 85+ have a disability.
   
• The majority of unpaid caregivers to seniors are women.
    

The demographic changes described above have implications for several policy areas:
 

• healthcare - to deal with the specific health care needs of an aging and increasingly female population.
• home care/respite care - to support families that are caring for aging family members.
• housing - to meet the increased need for sheltered/alternative housing required by seniors
• social needs - peer support/companionship, senior daycare
• income security - to address the ongoing financial needs of low-income senior women
• human resources planning and policies - to support families combining paid work and caregiving to aging family members.

Nova Scotia's people take pride in the closeness of their families. For coming generations, the single most important change will be the shrinking of family networks. The old will pass away, and with the current pattern of very small families, there will be many children and young people who don't have numerous siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces. There will be changes in the patterns of daily life and sociability, and, from a policy perspective, a decline in the number of people who automatically provide the social support and mutual aid that has been a cornerstone of Nova Scotian life. The implications of such change should become a matter of public awareness, debate, and policy concern.