Divorce Liberalisation Meets Approval

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31879, 6 January 1969, Page 2

Divorce Liberalisation Meets Approval

I fN.Z. Press Association) ' WELLINGTON, January 4. The man who pioneered marriage guidance counselling in Britain and New Zealand has welcomed the proposed liberalisation of divorce laws in this country. He is Dr David R. Mace, lecturer, author and international authority on marriage. “The whole structure of our marriage laws is a creaking monstrosity and the sooner we can dismantle it, the better,” he said, speaking to reporters in Wellington. ‘"The whole concept of matrimonial offences is simply

ridiculous. Who is guilty, who is innocent?—these are the questions asked but in fact we just have two victims in an overwhelming situation. "Certainly every possible effort should be made to get the marriage to work, but if it’s dead, you may as well issue a death certificate and bury it.” He thought remaining together for the sake of children was “a false ground” for marriage. “Again, do everything you can to make the marriage work, but if it doesn’t, don’t think you’ll do much good for your children by stopping together. “There’s a great deal of evidence to suggest children are hurt in this situation,” he said.

Discussing changing attitudes to marriage, Dr Mace said the focus now was on depth of relationship. "People are now marrying for happiness, love, warmth and affection. ' "I think that prior to World

War I, it was seen much more as a social duty. “This ‘someday my prince will come’ attitude, together with the emancipation of women, means that marriage today is considerably harder than it was. “There’s now two votes in most households and a lack of external coercion to keep together people who find they are not suited.” Essentially marriage was a life-long companionship, open and with good contact, he said.

“Both partners should accept conflict as an integral part of their relationship.” Statistics showed that happily-married couples lived longer and were much less likely to become ill or commit suicide than unhappily married people. “Many people developing distorted behaviour patterns are lonely people,” he said. On the question of changing sexual behaviour, Dr Mace said he did not believe there had been the cataclysmic

change in the 1960 s that the mass media suggested. “The real sexual revolution was in the 1920 s and we haven’t had anything like it since. “There is considerable evidence to suggest young people today are behaving exactly as their parents did, but they’re talking about it more,” Dr Mace said. Dr Mace married in 1933 and has two daughters, both married. He is professor of family sociology at Wake Forest. University, North Carolina.