Mothers are the primary breadwinners in four out of 10 U.S. households with minor children, a record number driven up by growing populations of single moms and married women who make more than their husbands, according to a report released Wednesday from the Pew Research Center. …So we have a combination of things. More single moms with children and more moms earning more money than dads/husbands. What is the great concern is the disparity between the married and unmarried. The unmarried tend to earn less than half the married women, barely above the poverty line, and suffer the extra burden of being the only adult in the household and therefore carrying the full burden of the household responsibilities alone. Who said marriage is bad for women? It seems just the opposite according to these statistics.
Disparities between the two groups are sharp. The married moms are more likely to be white, educated and older, making a median income of $50,000. While the unmarried mothers are frequently younger, either black or Hispanic, and bringing in a median income of $20,000.
“The growth of both groups of mothers is tied to women’s increasing presence in the workplace,” the study states, pointing out that women make up 47 percent of the labor force and that more mothers work outside the home today: 65 percent according to 2011 census data, compared with 37 percent in 1968.
One concern, however, is that men are increasingly marginalized. Not only are there a great many more households managed by single women, but even in households where the husband is present he is often the less significant wage earner. The fact that 65% of moms work outside the home and constitute nearly half the work force indicates that children are consigned to day care or home alone. This is not a good sign for our children. Add to this the stress of dealing the all or most of the household responsibilities on top of working and being the parent and we have more tired, worn out, and on the edge moms than ever before. Which goes to my main point. The stats tell us that the family is in trouble and when the family is in trouble we feel it in the Church, in the neighborhood, in the community, and in the society as a whole. This is something you do not have to say to those who try to find Sunday school teachers, lead youth groups, hold Bible studies, etc... We have been seeing the disappearance of women from these roles for a long time. Again, my point here is not to place one more burden or guilt trip upon women but to acknowledge that this has been going on for a very long time. The stress in the Church is not merely or even primarily to find people to fill those roles ordinarily held by women; the stress in the Church is providing care and support for increasingly stressed women and families.
3 comments:
This is the flower of the feminist movement. It is the "equality" they so fervently demanded.
In truth, before the feminist movement came along, there were very few jobs that were not open to women, if they really wanted them. We have had female physicians, female scientists, female engineers, etc. for a long, long time. Most of these jobs were previously filled by men, but there was always a way for a determined woman to enter these fields. The ordained clergy is the only exception that I can recall at the moment.
We are all allowed to make our own blunders, and the women's movement has made a huge one, bad for women and bad for men. They are finding out that having their cake and eating it too makes their lives too "full," but they insist that this is the only way.
I am old enough to recall the time before all of this foolishness came along. The idea that both parents had to work was basically motivated by post-WWII greed, a way for the double income household to move ahead in material possessions beyond the single income family. Then the liberals decided that "equality" was the way to universal happiness, and nothing less would do. It was done with malice aforethought, specifically to make women "independent," and ultimately to make many of them dependent on the government, rather than a husband. The destruction of the institution of marriage has been a major leftist goal for a century or more, and this was all a part of that program.
It would be foolish to claim that mom and dad both work because they are "selfish." The days of being able to support a family on a single income are long gone. Anyone who has been alive long enough has witnessed the decent paying manufacturing jobs disappear beginning with the death of the railroads. The decline in American living standards has been gradual, yet a slow and steady one since 1973.......
Some people in my LCMS congregation go out of their way to try to shame my wife for working outside the home. They do not understand that it was an economic choice and not a personal one. My wife would gladly quit her job and stay home with the kids. However, as I work a modest government job, we could not survive on my income alone. We are stuck.
fatherd,
Thank you. The women who '"muscled" their way into a man's world had to be extraordinary.
Anonymus, I am sorry your wife has to work. As Lutherans, the proper thing to do is recognize your financial difficulties. I have one question, however. If someone died and left you a large sum; if you won the lottery; if your congregation got together to support you; would your wife quit work?
I am not trying to offend. I realize there truly are situations like yours.
Feminism is a great evil, and we all suffer it's effects. I am one of those women who never burned my bra, but still, the effects of it taint my thoughts.
Post a Comment