CULTURE
Denmark is famous for beautifully
designed ceramics, silverware, porcelain, and home furnishings.
Copenhagen has a permanent exhibition of arts and crafts where
artisans from all over the country may display and sell their
work. All major cities and most provincial towns have public libraries,
with about 50 million volumes on the shelves. The Royal Library,
in Copenhagen, founded in 1673, serves as the national library
of Denmark. It contains collections of music, manuscripts, maps,
and pictures. Among the collections are 5,000 incunabula, books
printed in the second half of the 15th century.
Danes traditionally faced
life from the security of the nuclear family, as has been true
throughout Europe. During the late 20th century, substantial changes
have taken place. For example, marriage is no longer entered into
by young adults as an almost inevitable social institution. Historically,
the Danes easily tolerated sexual relations between individuals
who were engaged to be married. In earlier centuries it was not
uncommon for marriage to take place after a baby was born, although
it was considered immoral and unacceptable not to marry eventually.
Now, the inevitability of marriage has fallen away. Cohabitation
without the formalities of engagement and wedding is common. Nearly
one-fifth of all unions in Denmark are by cohabitation rather
than formal marriage. Consistent with the decline of contracted
marriages, the incidence of divorce has risen. One marriage in
four may be expected to end in dissolution.
Forty percent of live births
now take place out of wedlock, as compared with only 10 percent
a generation ago. These children are not necessarily raised by
single parents, however. Children are born to approximately 40
percent of consensual unions, and two children or more are found
in 15 percent of such relationships. The changes in marriage and
divorce statistics and the growing incidence of consensual unions
are primarily due to the changed role of women in society. Women
have experienced greater independence as well as increased responsibility
for economic survival and child care. They are educated on a more
equal basis with men, and they participate more equally in the
job market, although not yet with equal pay. The availability
of contraceptive methods and free abortions has also increased
women's options. In the mid-1960s slightly fewer than 50 percent
of married women between the ages of 20 and 50 engaged in paid
employment. Twenty years later more than 80 percent of married
women were working. The ability to earn their own incomes has
made marriage less necessary for women to provide security for
themselves and their children. It has also made divorce less punitive
in socioeconomic terms.
