Sir, – Maedbh King (Letters, June 9th) refers to the decline in marriage numbers and lists all the ways marriage penalises women. The bulk of the burden of caring, housework and the “mental load” of family life is being carried by women regardless of whether they are married or cohabitating. The only difference is the women who are married are offered some tax advantages and legal protections by the State. King asks why the State should “privilege this configuration above others”. How else is the State supposed to differentiate a couple in a family unit from, for example, long-term housemates? Real life is messy: relationships break down, people have children by different partners and we have increasing numbers of blended families. This can lead to complicated child custody and inheritance issues if relationships aren’t formalised in some way. The marriage register is a simple way of formally informing the State that a couple should be treated as a family unit. This is why the battles for divorce legislation and marriage equality were so important. It strikes me that two separate issues are being muddied here. The real problem is women are still doing more unpaid work than men. This negatively impacts women throughout their lives, particularly if they become mothers. Despite decades of progress for women, we are no closer to solving this. – Yours, etc,Kay Chalmers,Douglas, Cork.