>> I would expect most
>> Heortlings to be married between the ages of 15 and 20. If
>> only to keep the number of unmarried mothers to a reasonable level.
>
>What's supposed to be wrong with unmarried mothers?
Mythologicly wrong, Orlanth married Ernalda so their example should be followed.
>Remember children in
>Heortling society are economically useful at a very early age
>(labour-intensive and low-skill culture!), not an economic burden like
>they are to us. The clan of an unmarried mother get to keep the
>children! And her value in marriage negotiations goes up once she's
>proved she's fertile. Assuming she wants to follow the standard female
>career path, being an unmarried mother is a definite advantage.
There's still a minimum of five years before a child makes a significant contribution and more like ten before it reaches break even.
It also complicates marriage negotiations enormously, she's unlikely to want to be separated from the child yet she's leaving the clan.
Then there is the matter of balance in the labour force and a lot of unmarried mothers would throw that askew with too few men to do the heavy work.
Finally the women will want fathers to stay around, if there are many mothers managing without husbands it's going to be more difficult to persuade men to marry and help support the children.
So overall I think there will be some discouragement of unmarried mothers but not a great social stigma.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/ ------------------------------
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