Depending on how you measure it, marriage has and still benefits men

A new report from Pew shows that married women have made large gains in earnings and education, sometimes out earning their husbands. Maybe it's because I have been listening to too much punk rock lately, but this quote about the report really set me off today:

"What's radically changed is that marriage now is a better deal for men," said Richard Fry, co-author of the report, published by the Pew Research Center. "Now when men marry, often their spouse works quite a bit. Often she is better-educated than the guy." In 1970, unmarried men "had a higher economic status than married guys," he said, "but no longer." (Source: Washington Post)

Apparently Mr. Fry hasn't had a chance to review work by Heidi Hartmann or Nancy Folbre, but marriage has traditionally benefited men. Stay-at-home wives/mothers don't earn a "wage" for housework and child care but these acts of emotional labor certainly benefit husbands/fathers. Or maybe Mr. Fry also forgot Arlie Hochschild's work on how working wives not only work an 8-hour day but then come home to work a "second shift" of caring for the house and children.

The amount of time fathers spend on housework and child care has increased in the last few decades, but we are still a long ways off from having balanced families where all responsibilities are equally shared. As I see it, neither wives or husbands are gaining as the average family struggles to find affordable housing, must endure long commutes to work, and face an insufficient social welfare system that does not value ALL types of families.

Federal statistics are a bargain for taxpayers

The New Republic reports the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act signed by President Obama. The act will provide additional financial support to agencies that generate demographic, economic, and social statistical data. The largest amount goes to the Census Bureau to ensure better data collection and timely products from the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey, and the Local Employment Dynamics Program.

Data from federal surveys is free and easy to use, so this is a win-win for the federal statistical agencies and public data users. Data geeks unite!

Preview the 2010 Census

Before you now it, the 2010 Census will be here and it is critical that you and your household fill it out. The 2010 Census is the one of the shortest forms in history, with only 10 questions. Most of the detailed social and economic data is now collected by the American Community Survey.

Beginning in March, the Census Bureau will deliver a short 10-question form to every household in America. Respondents should fill out the form to account for everyone living at his/her address as of April 1, 2010. The 2010 Census includes a prepaid envelope with the form, so respondents can mail it back as soon as possible.

You can check out the form here.

Father Involvement with Children Following Marital and Non-Marital Separations

A paper that I co-authored with Danielle Farrie and Jay Fagan has finally been published in the journal Fathering.

Abstract
Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, the present study examines levels of father involvement with children between married and cohabiting couples post-separation. Differences in father involvement were analyzed using three hypotheses and one research question- repartnering,traditional values, human capital, and relationship quality. Multiple regression analysis revealed that previously cohabitating fathers were more involved with children than previously married fathers, although not all measures of involvement were significantly related to prior marital status. Findings point to several policy implications for low income couples with children.

To cite:
Laughlin, L., Farrie, D., and Fagan, J. (2009). Father Involvement with Children Following Marital and Non-Marital Separations. Fathering, 73(3), 226-248.

The article can be found here.

Employment Opportunities in the New Economy for PhDs

I will be speaking about employment opportunities outside of academics at the upcoming Sociologists for Women in Society meeting in San Fransisco. I will talk about employment opportunities for sociologists in the government sector as well as the difference between a government and non-government job search. I will also discuss the role of "public" sociology and how to increase the presence of sociologists beyond the ivory tower. If you, or your students, will be at the SWS meeting or the Annual American Sociological Association meeting, I hope you will stop by.


A full description of the panel is below:
Saturday, August 8th
12:30pm

"Beyond the Tenure-Track: Employment Opportunities in the New Economy for PhDs"

Panelists: Lynda Laughlin, Eleanor Lyon, Christine Morton, and Margaret Weigers Vitullo

Co-sponsored by SWS Student Concerns and Career Development Committees.

A group of experts who have held a range of positions provide information and ideas about finding, attaining, and succeeding in a range of jobs including government positions, non-governmental organizations, consulting, and research organizations. Panelists also discuss how to develop professional networks outside academia, how to recognize and develop the skills that are in demand, and how to translate ourselves, skills, and interests to a wider marketplace.

Michele Bachmann is an Idiot

A co-worker recently brought to my attention what an idiot Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is when it comes to national data. Bachmann told a local news station in Minneapolis that she won't provide any information, beyond the number of individuals in her household, on the upcoming 2010 Census. The Representative cites concerns about the government collecting social and economic information. How nice of her to at least fill out how individuals live in her household, since it is the population count that determines the location of congressional districts. I guess she knows that her job depends on the size of her Congressional district.

Her statements regarding the Census and federal statistical data in general, are dissapointing especially because she is an elected official and should know better. Census data is a vital community tool and provides imporant social and economic information that can be used to improve schools, roads, and other services that individuals in congressional districts like Bachmann's use on daily. If she doen't want the governement to know how much her household makes, does that mean she refuses to file her taxes with the IRS? Compared to corporate American, the federal statistical surveys only provide basic information about the American public. The credit care industry knows more about the income and spending habits of the American public, as do grocery stores. One swipe of the bounus card tracks your spending habits and personal shopping desires. Which probably explains why I get a lot of spam regarding feline care and natural peanut butter.

The Census helps to document the pluse of America and provides vital information about the livliehood of American communities, data that is critical during these economic times. The information provided to the Census is highly protected and privacy is of the upmost concern of the Census and its employees. Bachmann's statements regarding the Decennial Census are insluting to the American people and the good people at the Census Bureau who take their jobs seriously.

Don't listen to Bachmann and fill out your Census come next April. Your community depends on it.

Maybe this is why pregnaut mothers are smug? They're older and know what they want.

New data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows the number of children born out of wedlock has risen sharply over the past decade. The trend is being driven primarily by women in their 20s and 30s. Single mothers, while still economically disadvantaged, defining who is a single mother is changing. During the 1980s and 1990s, the educational, employment, and occupational attainment of single mothers increased. Thus, women are becoming more financially independent, often putting off marriage, and having children later. Additionally, determining who is a single mother can be difficult. Some single mothers are cohabiting, some live with their parents or other relatives, and many nonresident fathers are very involved in parenting. Families are changing and so are single mama's.

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Number of Unwed Mothers Has Risen Sharply in U.S.
Women in 20s, 30s Are Driving Trend, Report Shows

By Rob Stein and Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 14, 2009

Katrina Stanfield, 25, is raising her 3-year-old daughter in Middletown, Md., without a husband because she and her boyfriend decided that marriage would not work for them.

Heidy Gonzalez, 21, is living with her two children and their father in Mount Rainier, but tying the knot is not a priority for them now.

Emily Smatchetti, 38, is a single mother of a toddler in Miami because she had not found the right man and worried that time was running out. So she found a sperm donor.

The mothers are part of a far-reaching social trend unfolding across the United States: The number of children being born out of wedlock has risen sharply in recent years, driven primarily by women in their 20s and 30s opting to have children without getting married. Nearly four out of every 10 births are now to unmarried women.

"It's been a huge increase -- a dramatic increase," said Stephanie J. Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics, which documented the shift in detail yesterday for the first time, based on an analysis of birth certificates nationwide. "It's quite striking."

Although the report did not examine the reasons for the increase, Ventura and other experts cite a confluence of factors, including a lessening of the social stigma associated with unmarried motherhood, an increase in couples delaying or forgoing marriage, and growing numbers of financially independent women and older and single women deciding to have children on their own after delaying childbearing.

"I think this is the tipping point," said Rosanna Hertz, a professor of sociology and women's studies at Wellesley College. "This is becoming increasingly the norm. The old adage that 'first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage' just no longer holds true."

The trend has unfolded despite decades of political and social hand-wringing over the issue, such as Vice President Dan Quayle's attack on the unmarried television mother Murphy Brown, President Bill Clinton's revamp of welfare and President George W. Bush's focus on "family values." President Obama has said that one of his priorities is reducing abortions, in part by helping women who become pregnant and want to keep their children.

Some experts said the trend represents a positive change for many women, allowing them to avoid becoming social outcasts, being forced to give up their babies for adoption or having abortions, and letting them raise children in nontraditional families.

"Women can have children on their own, and it's not going to destroy your employment, and it's not going to mean that you'll be made a pariah by the community," Hertz said. "It's much more socially acceptable."

But others said the trend is disturbing because children who grow up without stable, two-parent families tend not to fare as well in many ways.

"I look at this and say, maybe this trend is what young adults want or stumble into, but it's not in the best interest of children," said Sarah Brown, chief executive of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

About 1.7 million babies were born to unmarried women in 2007, a 26 percent rise from 1.4 million in 2002 and more than double the number in 1980, according to the new report. Unmarried women accounted for 39.7 percent of all U.S. births in 2007 -- up from 34 percent in 2002 and more than double the percentage in 1980.

"If you see 10 babies in the room, four them were born to women who were not married," Ventura said.

Although experts have been concerned about a recent uptick in births to older teenagers after years of decline, that is not the driving force in the overall trend but more likely a reflection of it, Ventura said. Instead, much of the rise is due to significant increases in births among unmarried women in their 20s and 30s. Between 2002 and 2006, the rate at which unmarried women in that age group were having babies increased between 13 percent and 34 percent, the report found.

The rates increased for all races, but they remained highest and rose fastest for Hispanics and blacks. There were 106 births to every 1,000 unmarried Hispanic women in 2006, 72 per 1,000 blacks, 32 per 1,000 whites and 26 per 1,000 Asians, the report showed.

The percentage of babies born to unmarried women in the United States is starting to look more like that in many European countries, the data shows. For example, the proportion of babies born to unmarried women is about 66 percent in Iceland, 55 percent in Sweden, 50 percent in France and 44 percent in the United Kingdom.

In many of those countries, couples are living together instead of getting married, which is also the case in the United States. Previous research indicates that about 40 percent of births to unmarried women occur in households where couples are cohabitating.

Gonzalez, the mother who lives with her children's father in Mount Rainier, said marriage has not loomed as a necessity for them. "Time goes by and we think about other stuff -- and we think about rent," she said. This holds true, she said, for most of her friends. "Most of the people I know just live with their baby's father or boyfriend and don't get married," she said.

Other couples today feel less compelled to marry just because they are having a child.

"It seems to be more wrong to be in a marriage with someone who you don't love and consider to be your best friend than not to be in a marriage at all," said Barbara Katz Rothman, a professor of sociology at the City University of New York. "It's not that people care less about marriage. In some ways, it's because they care more."

Stanfield and her boyfriend tried living together after she got pregnant, but he moved out when it became clear to both of them that they were not compatible, she said.

"He's a good dad and a good person, but he's just not right for me," Stanfield said.

In New Carrollton, Natrice McKenzie, 25, a teller supervisor at a bank, said she did not set out to become a single mother but has no regrets.

"Getting married was something I had in mind, but that basically was not what happened," said McKenzie, pregnant with her third child. She said it can be difficult, and she knows she is far from unique. "Nowadays it's becoming more like, single moms are everywhere," she said.

Alana Hill, 33, sees family history as an important influence. A single mother in Silver Spring who works as a dancer and a dance teacher, Hill was raised by a single mother and was part of a large extended family in which most of the mothers were not married. Except for grandparents, "I didn't have a role model of a husband and a wife who were married for years," she said. Even when she was very young, her foremost wish, she said, was motherhood, not marriage. "I knew I wanted a child," she said.

Smatchetti, who works as a U.S. attorney in Miami, said she is glad that she had the option of using a sperm donor after a long-term relationship ended.

"I didn't want to pick the wrong person just to have kid, so I just decided to go ahead and do it and work on the relationship later," she said. "It's hard, but in a good way."