Marriage and Poverty
Walter Williams (yes I know this is a Townhall column and that he insists that poverty is “self inflicted” but these stats I’m about to quote seem legit) cites some very interesting data concerning poverty:
There’s one segment of the black population that suffers only a 9.9 percent poverty rate, and only 13.7 percent of their under-5-year-olds are poor. There’s another segment of the black population that suffers a 39.5 percent poverty rate, and 58.1 percent of its under-5-year-olds are poor.
Among whites, one population segment suffers a 6 percent poverty rate, and only 9.9 percent of its under-5-year-olds are poor. Another segment of the white population suffers a 26.4 percent poverty rate, and 52 percent of its under-5-year-olds are poor.
What do you think distinguishes the high and low poverty populations? The only statistical distinction between both the black and white populations is marriage. There is far less poverty in married-couple families, where presumably at least one of the spouses is employed. Fully 85 percent of black children living in poverty reside in a female-headed household.
Of course, there’s a chicken and egg factor to be dealt with here. It’s probably true that those born into poverty are less likely to get married, and that those born into rich families are much more likely to do. If someone is born into poverty, however, having kids while not being married, or raising kids on one’s own, or even going into a long term relationship but forgoing marriage, isn’t the best idea. Kay Hymowitz’s research, which I’ve written about extensively, seems to indicate that marriage has some wealth producing effects, and that income disparities between upper and lower middle classes can partially be explained by differential marriage rates, or that those disparities can be solidified by low marriage rates and single parenthood.
The whole point of this exercise is to express my uneasiness about certain corners of the blogosphere embracing Louise Sloan’s Knock Yourself Up, a how-to guide for intentional single motherhood. While those who deliberately pursue single motherhood a la Sloan are probably upper middle class already and thus won’t themselves will be fine for it, it’s worrying that a blog that prides itself on having a very inclusive feminist perspective would take a position on marriage that is so callous towards the needs of lower income and, more so than not, black women. Family breakdown buffeted by low marriage rates affects women disproportionally. It’s unfortunate that those who are “pro marriage” are aligned with those who really don’t care about the lower classes and those who are just bigoted. If liberals and progressives could take up the pro marriage banner, as part of a broader anti-poverty message, we could rescue a good cause from the unhelpful demagogues.
