Family & Society

Gender roles are formed and reinforced from earliest childhood through family relations, social and cultural strictures and norms. Today, family structures are shifting as nuclear and extended families undergo transformations due to economic and societal changes. The traditional archetype of one father and one mother plus children reflects only 25 percent of families in the U.S. Parental roles are also evolving as single-parent, same-sex couples and adoptive parents become increasingly common. Laws and employment policies are gradually reflecting these changes but more effort needs to be focused on providing family-friendly support from affordable, accessible, quality child and elder care to flexible work arrangements.

UTSA Study Finds a Scarcity of College Men Leads Women to Choose Briefcase over Baby

Teaser:

Research from Kristina Durante, assistant professor of marketing at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) College of Business, finds that the ratio of men to women dramatically alters women's choices about career and family. When men are scarce, women delay having children and instead pursue high-paying careers.

Editorial:

From the press release (Marketwatch):

"Most women don't realize it, but an important factor in a woman's career choice is how easy or difficult it is to find a husband," said Durante. "When a woman's dating prospects look bleak -- as is the case when there are few available men -- she is much more likely to delay starting a family and instead seek a career."

In one study, the researchers examined the ratio of single men to single women in each U.S. state and Washington D.C. They found that as bachelors became scarce, the percentage of women in high-paying careers increased, women delayed having children, and had fewer kids when they finally decided to start a family.

In another study on college campuses, the researchers led women to believe that there were either more men or less men on campus by having participants read one of two news articles about the student population. When women read that there were fewer men than women on campus, they became more motivated to pursue ambitious careers rather than start a family.

[...]

"Sex Ratio and Women's Career Choice: Does a Scarcity of Men Lead Women to Choose Briefcase Over Baby?" was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Durante and Griskevicius's coauthors include the University of Minnesota's Jeffry A. Simpson and Stephanie M. Cantu and Joshua M. Tybur (VU University Amsterdam).

Source:

Marketwatch

URL:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/utsa-study-finds-a-scarcity-of-college-men-leads-women-to-choose-briefcase-over-baby-2012-04-16

Date:

April 19, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

CNN Poll: Support for working women almost unanimous

Teaser:

A new CNN/ORC International poll shows that most Americans now think the number of women in the workplace is a good thing for children of working mothers, which is a significant change from attitudes on that topic in the 1980s and 1990s.

Editorial:

From CNN:

The CNN/ORC International poll also indicated that nearly nine in ten Americans approve of mothers of young children working outside the home, even if their husbands can support their families. Six in ten women, including six in ten mothers of children under the age of 18, said they would prefer to have a job outside the home.

Full results (pdf)

[...]

Source:

CNN

URL:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/16/poll-support-for-working-women-almost-unanimous/

Date:

April 18, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Pay Equity and Single Mothers of Color

Teaser:

Recent Census data indicates that women earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men--but for women of color, that wage gap is even higher.

Editorial:

From the Center for American Progress:

Although social and political efforts have been made to close the wage gap and in turn the wealth gap, recent Census data still indicates that women earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. For women of color the gap is even wider: Black women earn 69.5 percent, and Hispanic women 60.5 percent, compared to the earnings of their white male counterparts.

The wage story is just as unequal for single mothers: They make less than men, less than married women, and less than women without children. Adding race to the equation, single mothers of color are hit hardest by the wage gap. Studies show that single mothers of color are much more likely to live in poverty and face significant barriers to creating wealth. Lower wages can often prevent families from engaging in asset- and wealth-building mechanisms such as pension plans because of fewer job benefits and resources. Lower earnings can hinder families from investing and saving their money, a key strategy for building wealth. Additionally, wealth not only impacts economic security but long-term retirement security as well.

While it’s recognized that the racial wealth gap is widespread there is a critical need to understand the intersection of race and gender in accumulating wealth.

[...]

Source:

Center for American Progress

URL:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/04/pay_equity_color.html

Date:

April 17, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

More Than a Date: The Connection Between Tax Day and Equal Pay Day

Teaser:

Kristin Maschka argues that there's a relationship between United States tax code and the pay gap.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

Today, the biggest wage gap is between mothers and everyone else. Employed mothers earn just 73 percent what men earn. Even less if they are single or minority.

Even that 73 percent number is too rosy, because it only looks at a snapshot of mothers and men employed in a given year.

But mothers also spend more years out of the workforce than anyone else, usually to care for family. So the financial impact of mothers' employment patterns becomes clear only when we look across the years. The lifetime earnings of women are just 38 percent of the lifetime earnings of men.

Now that's a gap.

One of the reasons more women drop out of the workforce is because United States income tax policy is designed specifically to encourage them to drop out.

Yes, you read that right.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-maschka/equal-pay-day_b_1427171.html

Date:

April 17, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Why Your 1st Marriage Has a 50% Chance of Lasting

Teaser:

LiveScience discusses a new study that shows that first marriages have a 50 percent chance of survival. The article also rounds up other recent studies on marriage.

Editorial:

From LiveScience:

That number, however, hasn't budged much in the past three decades of data collected as part of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).

The findings "show trends that are consistent with broad demographic changes in the American family that have occurred in the United States over the last several decades," the researchers write in the March 22 issue of the National Health Statistics Report. "One such trend is an increase in the time spent unmarried among women and men. For women, there was a continued decrease in the percentage currently married for the first time — and an increase in the percent currently cohabiting — in 2006–2010 compared with earlier years."

[...]

The percentage of women living with a man in a sexual relationship rose from 3 percent in 1982 to 11 percent in the 2006-2010 period. Currently, women also seem to be marrying at older ages than years past, with the recent median age about 26 for women and 28 for men.

Men and women may be taking their time to pop the question. The number of women in a first marriage decreased from 44 percent in 1982 to 36 percent in 2006–2010. Meanwhile, the percentage of women currently living with a romantic other increased from 3 percent in 1982 to 11 percent in the most recent survey.

[...]

Source:

LiveScience

URL:

http://www.livescience.com/19245-marriage-survey.html

Date:

April 15, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

What's a Mom Worth in 2012?

Submitted by asklar on Sat, 04/14/2012 - 8:30pm

Salary.com has created an online salary calculator for stay-at-home moms.

URL:

http://www.salary.com/what-s-a-mom-worth-in-2012/

More Unwed Couples Are Having Babies

Teaser:

According to a new National Center for Health Statistics report, while 40% of American births are to unmarried mothers, most of those are to cohabiting couples.

Editorial:

From Time:

About 1 in 4 babies are now born to unmarried couples, a rate that has nearly doubled since 2002, according to a recent report from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The government has previously said that more than 40% of births are to unwed mothers, but the new report offers details showing that most such births occur in couples who aren’t married, but are living together.

“It’s thought that usually in births outside of marriage, one parent isn’t present. But many couples are cohabiting and these children do have two parents present,” says report author Gladys Martinez, a demographer in the CDC’s division of Vital Statistics.

The new data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics was based on in-person interviews with more than 22,000 men and women aged 15 to 44 during 2006 through 2010, as part of the National Survey of Family Growth. The researchers then compared the data to a similar 2002 survey.

[...]

Source:

Time

URL:

http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/13/more-unwed-couples-are-having-babies/

Date:

April 13, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

College-Educated Women And Marriage: No Longer Risk Being "Old Maids"

Teaser:

The Huffington Post reports on a new study by NYU sociologists that finds that college-educated women are no less likely to get married than women without a college degree.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

According to a new study by NYU sociologists Paula England and Jonathan Bearak, prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families, college-educated women are now as likely to get married as their less-educated peers -- even if the weddings happen in a somewhat older age range. These findings contradict the previously prevailing idea that women who pursued higher education were more likely to delay finding a mate past some stereotypical “marriageable age” while studying and building demanding careers. The study reports that, “as late as 1950, a quarter of white female college graduates 40 years of age had never married, compared to compared to only 7 percent of their counterparts without a college degree.” The latter category includes education levels ranging from less-than high school to some college.

England and Bearak explain the new paradigm:

[Now] by age 40, the well educated have caught up with the less educated and even surpassed them in the percent that have married. Thus, ultimately the more educated are as likely or even more likely to marry as any other group.

[...]

Source:

The Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/12/college-educated-women-and-marriage_n_1421792.html

Date:

April 13, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Women's Demand for Reproductive Control: Understanding and Addressing Gender Barriers

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 10:19am

Millions of women each year experience unintended pregnancies, and millions more have unmet need for family planning. One of the persistent gaps in knowledge is the role of gender barriers that women face in defining and achieving their reproductive intentions. This paper provides a gender analysis of women’s demand for reproductive control. This analysis illuminates how the social construction of gender affects fertility preferences, unmet need, and the barriers that women face to using contraception and safe abortion. It also helps to bridge important dichotomies in the population, family planning, and reproductive health fields.

Jennifer McCleary-Sills, Allison McGonagle, Anju Malhotra
2012

URL:

http://www.icrw.org/publications/womens-demand-reproductive-control

Member Organization:

International Center for Research on Women

Tools for Student Parent Success: Varieties of Campus Child Care

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 04/12/2012 - 10:11am

This toolkit is the first in a series by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). It introduces the wide variety of child care services that exist at institutions of higher learning. Rather than an exhaustive study of campus child care programs, it is an introduction to possible options. It is for those seeking to provide quality child care at colleges or universities and for those considering how to expand or rethink existing services.

URL:

http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/tools-for-student-parent-success-varieties-of-campus-child-care

Member Organization:

Institute for Women’s Policy Research

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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