Educated women want marriage in their future, according to a recent article on economics and marriage from the Brookings Institute. In The New Economic Face of Marriage, Aimee Picchi at CBS News writes:
When women and men do not get married, the economic deterioration of their family is dramatic, as those never formed families have a much more challenging time providing for their families without government assistance. To learn more about this see A Fifty-State Survey of the Cost of Family Fragmentation.
The opening line of the Sinatra song "Love and Marriage" might need to be updated to include to, "Love, a college degree, and marriage go together like a horse and carriage."
During the past 25 years, marriage rates have been climbing for women with college and graduate degrees, while women who lack an education beyond high school have seen their marriage rates plummet, according to research from Richard V. Reeves, Isabel Sawhill and Eleanor Krause at the Brookings Institution. Drilling down into educational levels shows that the country's most educated women -- those with professional degrees such as law degrees as well as graduate degrees -- have seen their marriage rates surpass that of women with only bachelor's degrees.
That reflects how a once-traditional institution is getting an overhaul, courtesy of women's growing educational and career ambitions. Those American women who are most capable of economic independence -- a college education is linked with higher lifelong earnings -- are returning to the institution. The upshot may be that opposite-sex spouses may enjoy more egalitarian relationships in the coming decades.
"It looks then as though women's independence hasn't led to a rejection of the matrimonial institution, as much as its transformation," the Brookings authors wrote. …
Aside from whether there are demographic problems looming with a shortage of educated men, young Americans remain hopeful about marriage. About two-thirds of people under the age of 30 who have never tied the knot say they'd like to get married one day, The Pew Research Center found. What's holding them back? A variety of familiar issues for the millennial generation, ranging from not being financially prepared to failing to find their soulmate.
During the past 25 years, marriage rates have been climbing for women with college and graduate degrees, while women who lack an education beyond high school have seen their marriage rates plummet, according to research from Richard V. Reeves, Isabel Sawhill and Eleanor Krause at the Brookings Institution. Drilling down into educational levels shows that the country's most educated women -- those with professional degrees such as law degrees as well as graduate degrees -- have seen their marriage rates surpass that of women with only bachelor's degrees.
That reflects how a once-traditional institution is getting an overhaul, courtesy of women's growing educational and career ambitions. Those American women who are most capable of economic independence -- a college education is linked with higher lifelong earnings -- are returning to the institution. The upshot may be that opposite-sex spouses may enjoy more egalitarian relationships in the coming decades.
"It looks then as though women's independence hasn't led to a rejection of the matrimonial institution, as much as its transformation," the Brookings authors wrote. …
Aside from whether there are demographic problems looming with a shortage of educated men, young Americans remain hopeful about marriage. About two-thirds of people under the age of 30 who have never tied the knot say they'd like to get married one day, The Pew Research Center found. What's holding them back? A variety of familiar issues for the millennial generation, ranging from not being financially prepared to failing to find their soulmate.
Our recent research asks a different question but arrives at a similar conclusion – Would Jane Austen Be on eHarmony? How Changes in Women's Legal Status Have Influenced the Choice of a Spouse. Marriage seems to be a timeless piece of family restoration.
When women and men do not get married, the economic deterioration of their family is dramatic, as those never formed families have a much more challenging time providing for their families without government assistance. To learn more about this see A Fifty-State Survey of the Cost of Family Fragmentation.
Women do still desire to be married, especially college educated high wage earning women. Good news for society – and for men and women!
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