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January 16, 2007
Marriage Rates For U. S. Women At All-Time Low
I knew that marriages rates for U. S. women were droping, but I have recently learned that "in 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000." More American women are living without a spouse than ever before.
White women are not the only ones affected. According to the news article, "marriage rates among black women remain low. Only about 30 percent of black women are living with a spouse, according to the Census Bureau, compared to about 49 percent of Latino women, 55 percent of non-Latino white women and more than 60 percent of Asian women."
The reasons? Women are waiting longer to marry. Women who divorce are not remarrying as quickly as their ex-husbands. Older women often end up outliving their spouses. Single and divorced women enjoy their freedom. They like the free time. They can travel. If they don't have children, they can spend more time with friends or take up other activities. Some of them are fortunate enough to be paid a sufficient wage at work so that they don't need a husband for financial support. They are choosier about the men they see, and are choosier about whom they marry. Some women are living with their partners rather than marrying them. Some jobs have partner medical benefits that don't require that couples be married to have health insurance. The Count and I had lived together for a very long time before we married. His former company was one that had partner benefits. We did not have to be married in order for me to be included on his health insurance plan.
I know that birth rates have been dropping in the U. S. for many years. The highest single-mother birth rates are for women in their twenties and thirties. It's interesting that marriage rates have also been dropping in the U. S. as well. Marriage rates for American women are now at an all-time low.
Posted on January 16, 2007 at 11:30 AM | Permalink
Comments
There's one explanation omitted from the list. Marriage requires two people - and perhaps men are refusing to marry in increasing numbers. Joy Jones wrote an article for the Washington Post" entitled, "Marriage is for White People"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/25/AR2006032500029.html
In it she quotes the following:
"In 2001, according to the U.S. Census, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women in America had never been married, in contrast to 27.4 percent and 20.7 percent respectively for whites. African American women are the least likely in our society to marry."
My reading of this is it's really black men who are least likely in our society to marry; but the statistical difference between 43.3% and 41.9% is almost nil. However, the difference between white males (27.4%) and white females (20.7%) is quite significant (and represents a larger proportion of the population). What's the explanation for the number of never-married white males being about 25% higher than the number of never-married white females?
Does anyone have any figures on the percentage of men living without a spouse?
Posted by: Falcon at Feb 3, 2007 11:39:17 PM
Why is the fact that the marriage rate is falling such a big deal? Is is really such a tragedy that people don't get married? The same holds true for the birth rate. Is it really so terrible that people are, in increasing numbers, deciding that spending literally decades raising children simply isn't for them? I think the West is in a transition period. It's progressing from a time when marriage and family were institutions that everyone was expected to assimilate into as part of becoming an adult to a time when people feel more free to pursue their own goals and identities independent of social pressure to become spouses and parents.
It really should be no surprise that as the social expectations that people marry and have children fall away that fewer people would want to engage in such activities. Marriage and parenthood are difficult and require tremendous commitment in order to be successful. These simply aren't paths for everyone. Many people would rather not be constrained by such responsibilities and so are choosing to forgo these life paths altogether in favor of more independent lifestyles that many individuals believe will be more fulfilling.
I think these social changes are positive. Since people are no longer feeling as pressured to marry or have children they will be much more likely to do so only if they really want to, and not simply as a response to social expectations. To me, this means fewer unhappy marriages and fewer unwanted children. This can only be a good thing.
In the future married couples and parents may be rarer things than they are now, but at least they will have chosen their roles out of earnest desire. I think this will make them more likely to be good spouses and good parents. The rest of society that doesn't follow that path probably would not have been happy marrying or having children to begin with, which means they would have probably made worse parents and spouses than those who really wanted to be both.
I don't see anything wrong with people choosing the paths in life that they believe will make them happiest. It will be better for everyone in the long run. These changes to our society may make some uneasy, but I believe we should welcome them as positive events.
Posted by: number7 at Apr 1, 2007 1:43:18 PM
