10-year marriage contracts proposed by women’s group

[Prometheus Bound]

Source: Spot Philippines

Published: January 8, 2010

Partylist 1-Ako Babaeng Astig Aasenso (1-ABAA) proposed on January 7 the enactment of a law that will limit a marriage’s validity to only 10 years, reports The Philippine Star.

“A marriage license should be just like a passport or driver’s license. If we are not interested to renew it, then it expires,” explained Margie Tajon,1-ABAA president. The group expressed their concern about abandoned and separated women who are forced to raise their families alone because they aren’t allowed, by law, to look for new partners unless their marriage is deemed annulled.

The Philippine Star reported that the proposed enactment of this 10-year limit to marriage certificates will give couples a chance to evaluate the status of their relationship. At the end of the contract, they can deliberate whether they want to renew the binding agreement for an additional 10 years or find new partners. According to 1-ABAA, this move will save both the man and woman from the stresses of filing for an annulment.

“We are tough women, we will fight for our right to be free from the bondage of marriage,” Tajon said. She further told The Philippine Star that the group anticipates strong opposition from the Catholic Church, but that they will continue to fight until the law is passed in Congress.

Read more: http://www.spot.ph/2010/01/08/10-year-marriage-contracts-proposed-by-womens-group/

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Edit: Original story from Philippines Star
Women's group wants expiry date on marriage
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=539027&publicationSubCategoryId=63

[lazarus]

1. contract marriages

I first heard of this concept decades ago in science fiction books. An interesting idea.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Lazarus Long, I take it

and the Sci-Fi would be by Robert A. Heinlein?

[lazarus]

24. indeed

Contract marriages, group marriages, all sorts of fun alternative lifestyles.

[Exultant Democracy]

25. I first head of it in fiction too. But during the middle ages a number of Muslim societies

practiced temporary contract marriages. This is of course before the influence of Wahhabism ruined the vibrant and amazing civilization that they built. Religious fundamentalism has a uniformly craptastic effect..

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Can you just imagine the Fundies' reaction?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Ironically, bet they secretly would like to support it...especially the women.

[FreakinDJ]

3. So the Father's responsibility to support the child is only 10 yrs too

Oh no....we can't possibly have that


It's not like the Juvenal Criminality rate hasn't increased directly proportional to the divorce rate in America or any thing like that.

And as sure as the Bear Shits in the Woods I'll get flamed for pointing out that inconvenient fact

[malakai2]

6. On the other hand

A cuckhold would be free of the burden of supporting another man's child in eight fewer years.

[county worker]

9. You have to do more than that to prove cause and effect.

Because two things move in the same direction does not mean one causes the other. It could me that some third thing is acting on both of them. But don't flame me for pointing that inconvenient fact out!

[FreakinDJ]

11. official policy of returning Children to "Drug Adicted Moters".

The most lame excuse for an agency I've ever seen is CPS, who here in Sacramento adopted the official policy of returning Children to "Drug Adicted Moters". They claimed Drug Addition should not be judged against the mother's ability to parent

What a "Grand Social Experiment" that was

Care to guess the number of children killed, pimped out, and seriously screwed up for the rest of their life

County Worker - figuares........

[county worker]

12. I and my wife were foster parents to children of drug addicted mothers.

The kids were very screwed up. We were in the process of adopting an 8 yr old boy. The county of Santa Barbara went to court to take away the mother's rights. She could call the kid but we had to monitor the phone call and warn her when she said such things as getting the kid back.

I know it isn't a fun thing to have to deal with.

[LeftyMom]

35. Do you know how many clean piss tests they have to have to get their kids out of foster care?

It's a long process. Basically they have to make a job of going to meetings, meeting with their social worker, taking very frequent drug screens, and if one test comes up hot it starts all over.

Nobody gives babies back on a whim. Trust me, I used to work for a foster care agency here, I know exactly how it works.

[Exultant Democracy]

26. The juvenile sentencing rate also tacks with the privatization of prison services

[Rage for Order]

17. Also,

I venture to say that you could put up a graph of births to unwed mothers and see a similar correlation. I think the confluence of the two trends has had a negative impact on society.

[FreakinDJ]

18. Without sounding so "Birther"

I think people need to have a bit more reverence for parenthood and marriage in general and consider the whole picture to a greater degree. As I often told my oldest son who was "active" at an early age, that the plastic clip form of temporary birth control was a "Real Option" he should seriously consider. Fortunately nothing happened.

I've heard the question posed numerous times and a "Permit / License" to have children is probably some thing we as a society should consider.

As for the OP - the Women's party in the Philippines is little more then a political joke. Recently 1 of their leaders were jailed for sedition when she tried to form an alliance with the Communist Terrorist (NPA) that plague that country with random murders, bombings and various other acts of violence

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

29. May be it should be 20yr contract, and automatically resets at birth of new baby

[FarLeftFist]

4. Mark Sanford's dream.

[rurallib]

7. Well - he would lose the money that comes with the wife

[California Griz]

8. This may be the best idea I've ever heard

I might do it again if I knew there was a ending date, instead of praying for the end of time.

[BlueJazz]

10. The whole things sounds good to me. Women who have been abandoned...

...should be free to get on with their lives.

[Warpy]

16. However, I'd like to see the men who abandon them

prevented from marrying unless the contract were mutually abandoned, say for about 5 years, or until the end of the contract period, whichever is longer.

It would really put a damper on the trophy wife hunt.

[ismnotwasm]

13. I always liked that idea

We have serial marriages anyway, why not a limited contract? Like upthread, I first came across the idea in Sci-fi.

[tinrobot]

14. Why 10 years? Why not however long you want?

Some people may only want 5 years, for example.

Just make it like a contract where the couple determines the appropriate length.

[FreakinDJ]

15. How about 1 night with a $50 preNup

[tinrobot]

19. Ha!

[jmowreader]

31. You mean, like Muslims used to do before the fundies took over?

[Vidar]

20. Some version of that could take some of the sting out of divorce here.

[tonysam]

21. Stupid idea

The purpose of marriage isn't about adults and their relationship; it's about society perpetuating itself through the birth of children and raising those kids within a halfway stable framework.

That doesn't mean marriages without kids aren't marriages; this is solely about why it exists in the first place.

These reformers have forgotten about it.

[alp227]

22. So marriage has to be renewed, like a library book or driver's license or passport?

I thought marriage was a "lifetime commitment"...or at least that's a religious rule.

Still, given a specific time amount per "marriage term", wouldn't divorce still have to exist to be fair?

This makes little sense to me.

[tonysam]

23. It's a dumb idea. You're right.

People can just get divorced anyway.

[Kalyke]

27. This is positively banal and gives men yet another excuse to

think with the wrong part of their anatomy.

I shudder to think of the number of middle-aged women who would be summarily rejected simply becaue they have lost their girlish figure by hosting their husband's baby.

Hell, the comments from some so-called progressive men in this thread support my assertions.

[Prometheus Bound]

36. The problem is that divorce is illegal in the Philippines.

I know so many Filipino women trapped in miserable marriages.

[conscious evolution]

28. AKA handfasting

Handfasting is an old celtic tradition still being practiced by many pagans and hippies.
Usually,though,they are for one year terms with an option for extension
The term 'tie the knot' comes from handfasting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handfasting

[FLAprogressive]

30. Does it include an option for an 11th year?

[jmowreader]

32. Once we get rid of the wage gap between men and women, then maybe

[alp227]

33. A similar, interesting blog: "People Should Not be Able to Marry Unless They Pass an Exam"

http://americanreality.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/people-should-not-be-able-to-marry-unless-they-pass-an-exam/

Throughout American history divorce has been a taboo. For more than a century the laws of our states made divorce almost an impossibility. Over the last few decades, the rules have loosened and the number of divorces has skyrocketed. Now, at least half of all marriages end in divorce. And while I agree that those statistics are sobering and that they are a great example of the selfishness that plagues our society today—divorce is not to blame.

Surely, some people are getting divorced because they are not willing to struggle to work things out. Of course, others are getting divorced, because they believe they found someone better. But those realities only demonstrate that the people in question, in most instances, entered into marriage before they knew what they were contracting themselves to.

--snip--

If we are really interested in decreasing the number of divorces the solution lies not with making it harder to end marriages—some really need to end. Instead, we should use the power of the state to force people to do what so many refuse to—consider what the hell they are doing before they get married in the first place.

--snip--

Why is it that people must show a competency to drive, but the state allows anyone to marry? Obviously, an unskilled driver is a danger to all of us. But couples that fail and force the state to help them pick up the pieces of their lives and maybe raise their children are also harmful to all of us. The only difference is that the resulting harm from a failed marriage is not as obviously seen or understood as is the failure of an uneducated, unsafe driver.

[Blue_Tires]

34. i've argued in favor of something like this for awhile...

if both parties agree, there is no reason to not have a legally protected, periodic evaluation of the marriage (maybe every 5 years?), and if needed, an amicable split...I think humanity has become too complex for the "for life" part of getting married, and many people make things worse by forcing themselves to stay in weak, loveless or sagging partnerships...

We all recognize that people change and go through different life phases, and the person you marry today isn't the same person a couple of decades later (neither are you, of course)