Реферат: Changes In Women And Marriage Essay Research

careers took relative precedence over marriage during the period of

their lives when their ?less achievement – oriented peers were opting

for marriage? (Allen & Kalish, p. 141). Women now in the labor market

want more than just a ?job?, and therefore, actively pursue a

?career?. Between 1969 and 1979, for example, percentages of women

endorsing wanting to be ?an authority in my field? increased from

54.3% to 70.5% and in 1979 were only 4.8% lower than the percentage

for men. Women endorsing wanting ?to raise a family? declined in these

years from 77.8% to64.8% which equals the percentage for men. (Long,

1983).

Becker?s (1981) theories of marriage and family behavior

hypothesize that women?s increasing labor force participation has had

a critical and presumably irreversible impact on the family. If half

of all marriages are to fail, and with alimony for ex-wives less

common, a woman cannot count upon marriage for a lifetime of economic

security (Allen & Kalish). Men?s economic status has substantially

deteriorated since the 1970?s (Oppenheimer, 1994). The median income

of men aged 25 to 34 fell by 26% between 1972 and 1994 (Koontz, 1997).

The institution of marriage underwent a particularly rebellious and

dramatic shift when women entered the work force. ?People don?t have

to stay married because of economic forces now . . . we are in the

midst of trying to renegotiate what the marriage contracts is – what

men and women are suppose to do as partners? (Gleick, 1995). Studies

show the lowest marriage rate of all is for women professionals (i.e.,

doctors, lawyers). While over three-fourths of all women in the United

States aged 35 to 39 are married, fewer than two thirds of these

are professional women. Further, when they do marry, professional

women are more likely to divorce than their age peers. As for

childbearing, these women have significantly fewer children than their

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