By Heather Boushey, Ph.D. Senior Economist Center for American Progress Recent media reports claim that mothers are increasingly “opting out” of employment to stay home with their families. But according to a new study released by the Council on Contemporary Families and the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the 20-year trend has been in […]
Topics of Expertise: Division of Labor in Families / Labor & Workforce / Work & Family
By AnneMarie Murdock Research Intern Council on Contemporary Families Recent trends in U.S. sexual education and reproductive health policies threaten to jeopardize the significant progress made during the 1980s and 1990s in improving teen sexual health domestically and HIV/STD infection rates, unwanted pregnancies, and reproductive health care worldwide. This is due to many reasons, one […]
Topics of Expertise: Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Health & Illness / Health Care / Reproductive Health / Singles & Dating
By M. V. Lee Badgett Professor of Economics University of Massachusetts, Amherst As a way to understand what might happen, some writers have looked to the experience of those Scandinavian countries that pioneered giving a marriage-like status to gay and lesbian couples. Denmark adopted such a law in 1989, Norway in 1993, Sweden in 1994, […]
Topics of Expertise: Gender & Sexuality / LGBTQ Partnering & Families / Marriage & DivorceTwentieth century social policy in industrial nations was originally formulated on the assumption that one particular family model was both the most prevalent and the most desirable. A family was supposed to consist of a married couple — one male breadwinner and one female homemaker — and their children, and the wages of a man were assumed to be enough to support a wife and children. Almost all women were assumed to be housewives.
Accordingly, women and children’s access to market income was organized through marriage, as was their access to social insurance. Male workers could claim social insurance benefits for themselves and their dependents from the state, unions, employers and other institutions, but women seldom had any way to make claims independently. When husbands died, widows with children could draw pensions from the state and/or receive aid from the husband’s union, while women without husbands usually had no legal way to make such claims. At the same time, work was organized on the assumption that all men were married to women who could devote their time and labor to the care of children.
Topics of Expertise: Labor & Workforce / Work & Family
According to recent census figures, 6 percent of married couple families with children live in poverty, compared to 33 percent of families headed by single moms. To many, the conclusion seems obvious. Marry off those single moms and they reduce their risk of poverty by a factor of more than 5, right? Plus, their children […]
Topics of Expertise: TANF & Public AssistanceIn this briefing paper, we question both this explanation of poverty and the policy prescriptions that derive from it.Marriage offers important social and economic benefits. Children who grow up with married parents generally enjoy a higher standard of living than those living in single-parent households. Two parents are usually better than one not only because they can bring home two paychecks, but also because they can share responsibilities for child care. Marriage often leads to higher levels of paternal involvement than divorce, non-marriage, or cohabitation. Long-term commitments to provide love and support to one another are beneficial for adults, as well as children.
Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / TANF & Public Assistance
Professor of Economics, School of Public Policy UMass Amherst; Williams Institute UCLA
Senior Sociologist, RAND Corporation; Professor of Sociology and Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Assistant Professor of Family, Health, and Policy in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah
Director of Research and Public Education, Council on Contemporary Families; Professor, The Evergreen State College
Associate Research Scientist, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research
PhD Professor and Co-Chair of the College of Environmental Science, University of Missouri
Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Master of Science in Social Policy program, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice
Assistant Professor, Illinois State University
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication, Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Professor of Medical Social Sciences Director, Center on Media and Human Development School of Communication Chair, Department of Communication Studies
Professor of Family & Consumer Studies and Adjunct Professor of Sociology, University of Utah
