Warning: Marriage will seriously reduce your family’s income.

Hint: Co-habit intelligently and get a free ride at married families’ expense.

With reference to the recent call by the Bishops urging the faithful to back marriage without fearing criticism, I would like to contribute my opinion, if I may.

Up to the present day, my husband and I have both worked full time AND paid income tax AND full social security contributions for a full 54 years between us. (My husband has worked for 30 and I worked for almost 25 years before I lost my job in 2004 through absolutely no fault of my own).

My husband was made redundant around six years ago while I was still employed. He was informed that he was not entitled to receive any significant social security benefit – despite having worked and paid NI contributions for over 24 years by then – because he had a wife (me) who worked full time. Thankfully, my husband found another job about a year later but since we made the romantic mistake of getting married many years ago (rather than intelligently co-habiting), our nation’s perverse social justice system deemed it fit to deprive our family of the full unemployment benefits (at least over e70 per week) that my husband should have been entitled to during the time he was unemployed, as well as the unemployment benefit I should have been pocketing regularly for almost five years now, were it not for the fact that I am married.

Yes, in Malta, a totally spoilt, lazy and irresponsible 13-year-old who has never done a single day’s honest work in her life – let alone paid social security contributions – is entitled to full social security benefits, subsidized housing and so on (so long as she is smart enough to get pregnant and claim the “unknown father” excuse) and to all manner of help in order to keep and “bring up” her child (who will thus most likely grow up to be a complete parasite like the role model mum), while a married person or parent who has paid social security contributions for God knows how many years to help sustain pensions, unemployment benefits, social services etc. for other people is deprived of his/her fair share of unemployment benefits when he/she is unfortunate enough to become redundant while the relevant spouse is working.

In the Maltese Islands, a redundant worker married to a working spouse is not even entitled to the allowances and benefits that an illegal immigrant in Malta is entitled to. Is this really the Authorities’ and the Church’s idea of social justice and Christian practice?

Several of the current teenage and even much older single mums may be lazy, unreligious, scheming, arrogant and parasitic, but they are certainly not stupid. They realise that with current local laws being what they are, official single parent families and “unmarried families” are financially better off regardless of whether the parent(s) work(s) or not. That is why they deliberately choose NOT to get married.

However Christian they may be, pragmatic people just cannot “back marriage” in the present local legal and social environmental culture. Sensible parents cannot but point out the present blatant discrimination against married couples and, if they truly love their children, they must advise them to co-habit if need be but certainly not to get married before – and if – all relevant laws, rules and regulations are fairly amended to eliminate all forms of negative discrimination against married couples and all forms of positive discrimination in favour of single mothers. Sensible parents cannot but point out the fact that the possibility of redundancy is bound to increase in the foreseeable economic climate. Therefore, even young couples, who currently have seemingly secure jobs and who intend to keep working, would do well to consider exactly what their income and social service entitlements would be if one of them were to lose their job:

(A) If they get married (B) Or if they “co-habit” at different addresses – because if present laws remain in force the difference is bound to be very substantial. Yes, man does not live by bread alone but neither can one support himself/herself and/or a family solely on religious and moral beliefs and convictions, unfortunately.

I have heard of engaged couples complaining that they were informed by the housing authority that they were not entitled to apply for subsidized housing because that was being reserved for single mothers. My husband, many acquaintances and myself have been deprived of unemployment benefit solely because we were married to working spouses when we were rendered unemployed. No considerate parent would ever want to see his or her married child (and potential grandchildren) short-changed, cheated, discriminated against and exploited in this way. That would be a most unchristian thing to do.

I am very disappointed – to say the least – that the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality has not yet openly tackled the issue of discrimination against married people, particularly where social services, pensions and unemployment benefits are concerned.

Perversely, our nation (as well as several pressure groups) professes to actively fight against racial, gender discrimination and so on, but totally ignore blatant and obscene discrimination against married people and “married families”.

Personally, I believe that this discrimination against married couples is already doing a lot – and will in future do much more – to destroy the institution of marriage in the Maltese Islands than the possible introduction of divorce ever will.

Marianna Galea Xuereb

Dingli