Do you think that pay equality has caused the marriage rate to deteriorate?

I was reading this article and it got me thinking ...

http://www.christianpost.com/news/facts-and-fallacies-about-paycheck-fairness-117959/

The pay gap between men and women is not all bad because it helps to promote and sustain marriages. Since husband and wife generally pool their incomes into a single economic unit, what really matters is the combined family income, not the pay gap between them.

In two segments of our population, the pay gap has virtually ceased to exist. In the African-American community and in the millennial generation (ages 18 to 32), women earn about the same as men, if not more.

It just so happens that those are the two segments of our population in which the rate of marriage has fallen the most. Fifty years ago, about 80 percent of Americans were married by age 30; today, less than 50 percent are.

Just a coincidence? I think not. The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap.

The real economic story of the past 30 years is that women's pay has effectively risen to virtual parity, but men's pay has stagnated and thousands of well-paid blue-collar jobs have been shipped to low-wage countries. Nobody should be surprised that the marriage rate has fallen, the age of first marriage has risen, and marriage, in general, has become unstable.

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This article is the first I've read on a non-man's site to use the word "hypergamy"!

Another fact is the influence of hypergamy, which means that women typically choose a mate (husband or boyfriend) who earns more than she does. Men don't have the same preference for a higher-earning mate.

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There's no question that this is a major factor. Actually, in the old days for the most part women didn't even have jobs. The cost of living was such that a familly could live on the man's income. That's no longer the case, although most people demand a higher standard of living than they used to (they didn't used to have cable TV, color TV, internet, multiple cars, etc.)

Anyway, usually a woman trades her beauty for a man being a protector and provider. Since modern society has taken that role out of the male's hands, there's a question as to what women really need men for. And since men still want sex, that has resulted in the "unbalanced" dating scene that we see today.

It all goes back to the introduction of birth control pills.

Tictac said:

It all goes back to the introduction of birth control pills.

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That, too.

Gender is a distraction from the overriding fact that on a macro level, everyone's wages have gone into the sh!tter over the past 30-50 years. Being unemployed used to mean that there was something seriously wrong with you. Now there are twice as many Americans without jobs as with jobs. And instead of a typical job being enough to support a family, it now pays just a little more than being on welfare. Those factors are shaping peoples' living choices much more than any differences between genders.

The pill, equal wages, universal suffrage, decline in VD, decline in religion, etc. Lots of factors. The bottom line is the elites of this country want wage slaves who will buy shiny new products. Do your best to find independence where you can.

Bible_Belt said:

Gender is a distraction from the overriding fact that on a macro level, everyone's wages have gone into the sh!tter over the past 30-50 years.

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Wages haven't kept up with inflation, basically. But I do think that people used to be happy with a lot less. They didn't expect much more than food on the table and a roof over their heads. They didn't have air conditioning, microwaves, motor powered lawnmowers, TV, cable, internet, washers, dryers, etc. There was a time not that long ago when they didn't have refrigerators, they had a box and a man delivered ice for it.

I read stories about the poor class in India, and there are people who just live in a shack out in the woods. I didn't get the impression they were especially unhappy or anything like that. I wonder if people could handle going back and giving up a lot of these modern conveniences that everyone expects as their right these days. If things keep getting worse, they may not have a choice.

I'd really miss air conditioning, I remember not having it as a kid, and I used to frigging swelter in the summer, I hated it.

There never was a real pay gap. Anytime one hears that from any source, make them substantiate it. Raw income stats come nowhere close to doing so. I'm no sociologist, but in my legal and other experience, the marriage rate is declining because 1. Men are fleeing a corrupt, biased institution in droves, and 2. Men can get sex without marriage. IMO it has nothing to do with supposed wage parity. Men are merely wising up and avoiding a trap no less risky or damaging than heroin or crack addiction.

On a side note, don't buy the "wage decrease/income disparity" leftist myths. We have lived through the most startling technological explosion in human history over the last 40 years, everyone knew 1. this would impact undifferentiated labor negatively, and 2. many people would get obscenely rich due to bringing literal miracles to market unseen or conceived in human history... that everyone in the world is lining up to buy voluntarily from the innovators. Raw income stats don't factor in the immense technological benefit to the common man of computers and telecomm. Raw income numbers don't measure true wealth or prosperity.

But in case someone didn't get the message the first 10,000 times the economy and global market told us all, taking the easy way, slacking through school and partying, then expecting to make a good living via undifferentiated, mostly unskilled labor, is a nonstarter. Either make a smart plan for making a living, be willing to work hard and undertake risk to achieve it, or sit back and whine about wage decreases and a global market for labor we all knew was coming.

THE PAY GAP BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN DOES NOT EXIST.

Women rarely dedicate themselves to their profession like men do. And when they do they make the same money as men.

I work IT and every time I have seen a woman in my field she's worthless. And I've been doing this for over 20 years.

SgtSplacker said:

THE PAY GAP BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN DOES NOT EXIST.

Women rarely dedicate themselves to their profession like men do. And when they do they make the same money as men.

I work IT and every time I have seen a woman in my field she's worthless. And I've been doing this for over 20 years.

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True. Its just women are whiney little entitled children. http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml

Tictac said:

It all goes back to the introduction of birth control pills.

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Elaborate.

back in the 50's, if you had s%x with a woman, you married her out of "responsibility". Society did us a favor eliminating THAT one... BUT, No Fault Divorce and the screwing men get in family court is PROBABLY the biggest reason why men aren't marrying. We have woken up, and it will be hard for society to put that genie back in the bottle.

IF a man makes it past 35 and isn't married, the testosterone dropping let's him think with his big head and he's not willing to just do what "society"{women} tells him he must

Bible_Belt said:

Gender is a distraction from the overriding fact that on a macro level, everyone's wages have gone into the sh!tter over the past 30-50 years. Being unemployed used to mean that there was something seriously wrong with you. Now there are twice as many Americans without jobs as with jobs. And instead of a typical job being enough to support a family, it now pays just a little more than being on welfare. Those factors are shaping peoples' living choices much more than any differences between genders.

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I am unemployed (OK, I teach some English abroad on the side to pay for my travels) as I cannot find good paying work as a programmer like I used to. And I have chosen not to take some cr@p job. And I take full advatange of SNAP (i.e., food stamps) when I am back in the USA and ObamaCare subsidies/Medicaid. I have a decent nest egg in my retirement, but spend rather frugally.