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51% of US Women Are Now Living Without Spouse
This is a major demographic watershed, long predicted by sociologists, clergy, novelists, and science fiction writers. More women are now living without husbands in the US than with. In some ways, despite the predictions, it still comes as a shock.
According to the NY Times, it conducted its own analysis of US Census data to come up with these conclusions.
“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 Prof. 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.”
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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 American households for the first time, the trend could ultimately shape social and workplace policies, including the ways government and employers distribute benefits.
January 16, 2007 at 06:35 am by Actual News Geezer, 1354 views, 3 comments



Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 06:45 on January 16th, 2007
This is the sort of story that will roil talk shows all day long. Magazine editors will open veins in agony that they didn't get to this first. Everybody will be looking for quotes, like, "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."
So please get cracking!
at 17:04 on January 17th, 2007
The Times got their numbers from the Census Bureau's new American
Community Survey, which surveyed "117 million women over the age of
15." Wait a minute. "Over the age of 15"?
Is it really a surprise that millions of 15-20 year-olds are "living
without spouse"? It shouldn't be. In addition to several cultural
factors (some of which the Times touched on), the age of consent in the
United States averages just over 16 years of age. In several states,
including California, it's 18.
link
at 18:21 on September 13th, 2007
Actual News Geezer, I like this story. It's good stuff. some of the info I need for an argument for a debate