Signing Up to a Charter for Single People

The Guardian newspaper reports that the Belgian regional council of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, located near Brussels, has become the first municipality in Europe to sign up to a charter for single people.  The brainchild of councillor Carla Dejonghe, the charter recognises that across the EU, some seventy million people live alone.  Carla said that single people are often disadvantaged, whether through higher household expenses or the assumption that they are available to work evenings and weekends.  The text of the charter stresses the aim of ensuring that single-income households are treated on an equal footing with others, adding: “It is our interest as policymakers to no longer think from the perspective of the traditional family as the norm, but to strive for measures that are neutral to living arrangements.”  Examples of measures that can be taken to ensure that single people are treated fairly in society include more communal spaces for social interaction, encouraging workplaces to stop relying on single people to cover weekend shifts and tweaking municipal invitations to specify that guests can bring a “plus one” instead of only a partner.