Read the following discussion and give your response:

“Family and religion are central to Greek values and behaviors” (King, n.d.). They place a strong emphasis on the family and while the immediate family (mother, father, siblings) is extremely important, so too is the extended family that includes the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The traditional family/husband roles place the father as the authoritative figure and the mother/wife as the person who focuses on the home and children. The decisions typically are made by the husband/father and he is expected to be the primary breadwinner.

“Most of the people [in France] have an open view about 'concubinage' and 'pre marital pregnancy' in France. Concubinage is defined as an act of cohabiting of a man and a woman without legal marriage and pre marital pregnancy is having a child before getting legally married”(Rkaushik, 2011). While it is not encouraged, it is not looked down upon to have children before marriage, like it is in Greece or even here in the United States. The French people have a more accepting and open view on marriage and family roles. Even the French government recognizes the openness and allows unmarried parents to be considered a family and receive the benefits that a family with married parents is given.

According to Tom O’Gorman, the Swedish women wait a significant amount of time before attempting to have children, the typical age being about thirty-two, compared to the early twenties here in the United States. Marriage is also not seen as important as it may be in the US or in Greece. The government does offer significant benefits to those who have children and the majority of their college education are almost entirely funded. I suspect that this is the reason that Swedish women often wait to have children; they want to take advantage of the education that is provided by the government.