How could that be? I don't get it...
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Posted on 01/16/2007 12:10:56 PM PST by AdamSelene235
For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.
In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000.
Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of all U.S. households for the first time, the trend ultimately could shape a range of social and workplace policies, including the ways government and employers distribute benefits.
Several factors are driving the statistical shift. At one end of the age spectrum, women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods of time. At the other end, women are living longer as widows and, after a divorce, are more likely than men to delay remarriage, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom.
advertisement In addition, 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 with about 49 percent of Hispanic women, 55 percent of non-Hispanic white women and more than 60 percent of Asian women.
In a relatively small number of cases, the living arrangement is temporary, because the husbands are working out of town, are in the military or are institutionalized. But while most women eventually marry, the larger trend is unmistakable.
``This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people's lives,'' said Professor Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit research group. ``Most of these women will marry, or have married. But on average, Americans now spend half their adult lives outside marriage.'' She said this was probably unprecedented with the possible exception of major wartime mobilizations and when black couples were separated during slavery.
William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, a research group in Washington, described the shift as ``a clear tipping point, reflecting the culmination of post-1960 trends associated with greater independence and more flexible lifestyles for women.''
``For better or worse, women are less dependent on men or the institution of marriage,'' Frey said. ``Younger women understand this better, and are preparing to live longer parts of their lives alone or with nonmarried partners. For many older boomer and senior women, the institution of marriage did not hold the promise they might have hoped for, growing up in an `Ozzie and Harriet' era.''
Emily Zuzik, a 32-year-old musician and model who lives in the East Village of Manhattan, says she's not surprised by the trend.
``A lot of my friends are divorced or single or living alone,'' she said. ``I know a lot of people in their 30s who have roommates.''
Zuzik has lived with a boyfriend twice, once in California where the couple registered as domestic partners to qualify for his health insurance plan. ``I don't plan to live with anyone else again until I am married,'' she said, ``and I may opt to keep a place of my own even then.''
Linda Barth, a 56-year-old magazine editor in Houston who has never married, said, ``I used to divide my women friends into single friends and married friends. Now that doesn't seem to be an issue.''
Sheila Jamison, who also lives in the East Village of Manhattan and works for a media company, is 45 and unmarried. She says her family believes that she would have had a better chance of finding a husband if she had attended a historically black college instead of Duke.
``Considering all the weddings I attended in the '80s that have ended so very, very badly, I consider myself straight up lucky,'' she said. ``I have not sworn off marriage, but if I do wed, it will be to have a companion with whom I can travel and play parlor games in my old age.''
Carol Crenshaw, 57, of Roswell, Ga., was divorced in 2005 after 33 years and says she is in no hurry to remarry.
``I'm in a place in my life where I'm comfortable,'' said Crenshaw, who has two grown sons. ``I can do what I want, when I want, with whom I want. I was a wife and a mother. I don't feel like I need to do that again.''
How could that be? I don't get it...
As a muslim terrorist once stated...
"our biggest advantage is that our women are mothers, and your women are whores".
A little vulgur but there is a scary point in there.
All things being relative...that redhead on the right looks kinda hot.
Living with a spouse is kind of rare here, almost a curiosity. BTW, what is the minimum age in this poll?
Women may not "need" husbands...but children definitely NEED fathers.
This is a downward spiral. Has been for the black community and it will be for the larger community.
"our biggest advantage is that our women are mothers, and your women are whores".
And then he proceeded to beat her senseless with a stick.
Then there should be no cats in animal shelters.
Yeah man, American women show their ankles! Filthy trollops.
Yes, this is a triumph of feminism. Untold in this study, however, is the tragedy of shattered lives, aborted children,increase in venereal disease, along with broken homes from these women (and men) who "delight in their newfound freedom".
All things being relative...that redhead on the right looks kinda hot.
Okay, why'd you have to bring relatives into this?
"My sister [slap!], my daughter [slap!], my sister [slap!], my daughter [slap!]."
"Jake...it's Chinatown."
Interesting the article doesn't say that most American men are unmarried - just women. I wonder if the majority of American men ARE married and what the implications of that would be?
Yeah....and you're stuck with that ridiculous wedding photo of the groom in the white tux, bride in a wide brimmed hat, both framed within a wine glass.
(cue credits)
There are more women than men in the US because women on average live longer. Thus if 49% of the women are married (to one man each), then probably 51% or so of the men are married (to one woman each).
Then, there's the available pool to choose from.
Can you blame us?
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