tailieunhanh - Women, Men and the New Economics of Marriage

In the 1950s and 1960s intellectual discussions of crime were dominated by the opinion that criminal behavior was caused by mental illness and social oppression, and that criminals were helpless “victims.” A book by a well- known psychiatrist was entitled The Crime of Punishment (see Menninger [1966]). Such attitudes began to exert a major influence on social policy, as laws changed to expand criminals’ rights. These changes reduced the appre- hension and conviction of criminals, and provided less protection to the law-abiding population | Women Men and the New Economics of Marriage FOR RELEASE JANUARY 19 2010 Paul Taylor Project Director Richard Fry Senior Researcher D Vera Cohn Senior Writer Wendy Wang Research Associate Gabriel Velasco Research Analyst Daniel Dockterman Research Assistant MEDIA INQUIRIES CONTACT Pew Research Center s Social Demographic Trends Project http Pe wResearchC enter A Social Demographic Trends Report 1 Women Men and the New Economics of Marriage By Richard Fry and D Vera Cohn Pew Research Center Executive Summary The institution of marriage has undergone significant changes in recent decades as women have outpaced men in education and earnings growth. These unequal gains have been accompanied by gender role reversals in both the spousal characteristics and the economic benefits of marriage. A larger share of men in 2007 compared with their 1970 counterparts are married to women whose education and income exceed their own according to a Pew Research Center analysis of demographic and economic trend data. A larger share of women are married to men with less education and income. From an economic perspective these trends have contributed to a gender role reversal in the gains from marriage. In the past when relatively few wives worked marriage enhanced the economic status of women more than that of men. In recent decades however the economic gains associated with marriage have been greater for men than for women. In 2007 median household incomes of three The Rise of Wives 1970 to 2007 Share of Husbands Whose Wives Income Tops Theirs 1970 2007 Among Married Women Which Spouse Has More Education 1970 2007 Same Husband Notes Includes only native-born 30- to 44-year-olds. Source Decennial Censuses and 2007 American Community Survey ACS Integrated Public Use Micro Samples IPUMS PewBesearchf ruler groups married men married women and unmarried women were about 60 higher than those of their counterparts in 1970. But for a fourth group unmarried men