Marriage

====Children born outside marriage====
{{Further|Legitimacy (family law)}}
[[File:TheOutcastRichardRedgrave.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|''The Outcast'', by [[Richard Redgrave]], 1851. A patriarch casts his daughter and her illegitimate baby out of the family home.]]
[[File:Percentage of birth to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007.png|upright=1.35|thumb|Percentage of births to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007<ref name="non_mar1">{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.htm|title=Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States |website=CDC/National Center for Health Statistics|date=13 May 2009|access-date=24 September 2011}}</ref>]]
Historically, and still in many countries, children born outside marriage suffered severe social stigma and discrimination. In England and Wales, such children were known as [[Bastard (law of England and Wales)|bastards and whoresons]].

There are significant differences between world regions in regard to the social and legal position of non-marital births, ranging from being fully accepted and uncontroversial to being severely stigmatized and discriminated.<ref>The 1997 Global Study on Family Values found that only 3% of respondents in Iceland, 8% in France, and 9% in Germany, thought that it was "wrong" to have a child outside marriage. [http://www.hi-ho.ne.jp/taku77/refer/valupoll.htm Global Study of Family Values. An International Gallup Poll. Family Values Differ Sharply Around the World]. hi-ho.ne.jp</ref><ref>In many parts of the world, especially in Muslim majority countries, children born outside marriage and their mothers face severe social and legal difficulties [https://web.archive.org/web/20130501013343/http://www.mrt-rrt.gov.au/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=91cf943a-3fa6-4fce-afec-4ab2c2a356fd Refugee Review Tribunal Australia]. mrt-rrt.gov.au. 21 April 2009.</ref>

The 1975 European Convention on the Legal Status of Children Born out of Wedlock protects the rights of children born to unmarried parents.<ref>[http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/085.htm European Convention on the Legal Status of Children Born out of Wedlock]. Conventions.coe.int. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref> The convention states, among others, that: "The father and mother of a child born out of wedlock shall have the same obligation to maintain the child as if it were born in wedlock" and that "A child born out of wedlock shall have the same right of succession in the estate of its father and its mother and of a member of its father's or mother's family, as if it had been born in wedlock."<ref>[http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/085.htm Council of Europe – ETS no. 085 – European Convention on the Legal Status of Children Born out of Wedlock]. Conventions.coe.int. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref>

While in most Western countries legal inequalities between children born inside and outside marriage have largely been abolished, this is not the case in some parts of the world.

The legal status of an unmarried father differs greatly from country to country. Without voluntary formal recognition of the child by the father, in most cases there is a need of due process of law in order to establish [[Paternity law|paternity]]. In some countries however, unmarried cohabitation of a couple for a specific period of time does create a presumption of paternity similar to that of formal marriage. This is the case in Australia.<ref>[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fla1975114/s69q.html Family Law Act 1975 – SECT 69Q Presumption of paternity arising from cohabitation]. Austlii.edu.au. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref> Under what circumstances can a paternity action be initiated, the rights and responsibilities of a father once paternity has been established (whether he can obtain parental responsibility and whether he can be forced to [[Child support|support the child]]) as well as the legal position of a father who voluntarily acknowledges the child, vary widely by jurisdiction. A special situation arises when a married woman has a child by a man other than her husband. Some countries, such as [[Israel]], refuse to accept a legal challenge of paternity in such a circumstance, in order to avoid the stigmatization of the child (see [[Mamzer]], a concept under [[Halakha|Jewish law]]). In 2010, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] ruled in favor of a German man who had fathered twins with a married woman, granting him right of contact with the twins, despite the fact that the mother and her husband had forbidden him to see the children.<ref>[http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/hof.nsf/d0cd2c2c444d8d94c12567c2002de990/db5e85a236de283dc1257803004974b7?OpenDocument ECHR : Anayo v. Germany Publication : [not yet received&#93;] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226171503/http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/hof.nsf/d0cd2c2c444d8d94c12567c2002de990/db5e85a236de283dc1257803004974b7?OpenDocument |date=26 February 2014 }}. Sim.law.uu.nl. Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref>

The steps that an unmarried father must take in order to obtain rights to his child vary by country. In some countries (such as the UK – since 2003 in England and Wales, 2006 in Scotland, and 2002 in Northern Ireland) it is sufficient for the father to be listed on the birth certificate for him to have parental rights;<ref>[https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities/what-is-parental-responsibility Parental rights and responsibilities]. GOV.UK (1 July 2013). Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref> in other countries, such as Ireland, simply being listed on the birth certificate does not offer any rights, additional legal steps must be taken (if the mother agrees, the parents can both sign a "statutory declaration", but if the mother does not agree, the father has to apply to court).<ref>[http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/cohabiting_couples/legal_guardianship_and_unmarried_couples.html Legal guardianship and cohabiting couples]. Citizensinformation.ie (8 March 2013). Retrieved on 5 September 2013.</ref>

Children born outside marriage have become more common, and in some countries, the majority. Recent data from [[Latin America]] showed figures for non-marital childbearing to be 74% for [[Colombia]], 69% for [[Peru]], 68% for [[Chile]], 66% for [[Brazil]], 58% for [[Argentina]], 55% for [[Mexico]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sustaindemographicdividend.org/articles/international-family-indicators/global-childrens-trends |title=Global Children's Trends &#124; The Sustainable Demographic Dividend |publisher=Sustaindemographicdividend.org }}</ref><ref>Joice Melo Vieira. [http://paa2013.princeton.edu/papers/131703 The Evolution of Births Outside of Marriage, Paternal Recognition and Children's Rights in Brazil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084714/http://paa2013.princeton.edu/papers/131703 |date=4 March 2016 }}. Department of Demography (IFCH) and Population Studies Center (Nepo), State University of Campinas</ref> In 2012, in the [[European Union]], 40% of births were outside marriage,<ref name="ec.europa.eu">{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&plugin=1&language=en&pcode=tps00018|title=Eurostat – Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface (TGM) table|website=ec.europa.eu}}</ref> and in the United States, in 2013, the figure was similar, at 41%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/births.htm|title=FastStats|date=8 August 2018|website=www.cdc.gov}}</ref> In the [[United Kingdom]] 48% of births were to unmarried women in 2012; in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] the figure was 35%.<ref name="ec.europa.eu"/>

During the first half of the 20th century, unmarried women in some Western countries were coerced by authorities to give their children up for [[adoption]]. This was especially the case in Australia, through the [[forced adoption in Australia|forced adoptions in Australia]], with most of these adoptions taking place between the 1950s and the 1970s. In 2013, [[Julia Gillard]], then Prime Minister of Australia, offered a national apology to those affected by the forced adoptions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ag.gov.au/About/ForcedAdoptionsApology/Pages/default.aspx|title=National Apology for Forced Adoptions|last=AGD|website=www.ag.gov.au|language=en-au|access-date=2019-07-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-21872954/julia-gillard-sorry-for-shameful-forced-adoptions|title=Gillard sorry for forced adoptions|work=BBC News}}</ref>

Some married couples [[Voluntary childlessness|choose not to have children]]. Others are unable to have children because of [[infertility]] or other factors preventing [[Fertilisation|conception]] or the bearing of children. In some cultures, marriage imposes an ''obligation'' on women to bear children. In northern [[Ghana]], for example, payment of [[Bride price|bridewealth]] signifies a woman's requirement to bear children, and women using birth control face substantial threats of physical abuse and reprisals.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bawah|first=AA.|author2=Akweongo P|author3=Simmons R|author4=Phillips JF.|title=Women's fears and men's anxieties: the impact of family planning on gender relations in northern Ghana|journal=Studies in Family Planning|volume=30|issue=1|pages=54–66|year=1999|url=http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/councilarticles/sfp/SFP301Bawah.pdf|doi=10.1111/j.1728-4465.1999.00054.x|pmid=10216896|hdl=2027.42/73927|hdl-access=free|access-date=11 January 2007|archive-date=14 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014212722/http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/councilarticles/sfp/SFP301Bawah.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>