No Love At First Sight In France

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31363, 8 May 1967, Page 2

No Love At First Sight In France

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter) PARIS. The tradition of being guided by one’s parents in the choice of a marriage partner persists in France in spite of the atomic age, says Professor Alain Girard, a leading French expert on the subject.

Professor Girard, head of the Institute for Demographic Studies at the University of Paris, said in a recent lecture that love at first sight simply did not exist—at any rate not statistically.

In practice, the selectton of a marriage partner is restricted to a relatively small choice. The majority of married couples, he says, lived in the same, or neighbouring, areas before they were married. The choice was made between young people able to meet frequently and without difficulty. In the large towns, there are numerous social organisations which bring people from the same province together. This has much the same effect on the choice of a marriage partner as living In the same neighbourhood.

In most marriages, the partners come from the same social groups. This is particularly true of farmers, workmen, executives, people in the liberal professions and industrialists, but less true for white collar workers. . COMMON BACKGROUND i A common cultural and t religious background is also a strong factor of attraction ! between young people. “Like calls to like” is ! truer than the so-called s “attraction of opposites” ■ which Professor Girard de- : scribes as “a romantic myth.” > Many couples attribute their first meeting to chance,

although the chance covers having been students * together, for instance, or having played together as children.

Seventeen per cent of married couples met at dances of one kind or another, says the professor, and as many as 11 per cent of marriages are still made by a more or less disguised arrangement between the respective parents. The influence of parents has not declined as much as is often claimed, and their views will often determine their children’s choice of a profession, of residence and of marriage partner. Another fact noted by Professor Girard is that while the mortality rate in France has declined and the birthrate has increased in the last 90 years, the marriage rate seems to have remained stable at between 14 and 15 per 1000 of the population. There is, however, a trend towards earlier marriage, he says. Comparing the present year with 1880, he finds that the average marrying age for men is now 25 instead of 28, and for women 22 instead of 25, a tendency which he thinks will continue in the future.

There are more marriages per capita in France than in the Scandinavian and East European countries, says the Professor, but the French rate is lower than that in the United States of America. WILL INCREASE

This, Professor Girard attributes to an industrial civilisation, and he therefore expects that the marriage rate in France will increase during the next few years as the industrialisation of the country proceeds. Marriages between French women and foreign immigrant workers are infrequent. The immigrant workers, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, as well as Algerian, prefer to go home to seek a bride. There is also a slight increase in marriages among the extremely young, who want to get married before the legal age of consent. In France, anyone who is 21 can get married without the consent of his or her parents. The legal age of consent, with parents agreeing, is 18 years for a man and 15 years for a girl. Those who want to get married at an earlier age must obtain special permission from the President.