More Single Women than Married Women in US
Women in American Society are Less Likely Than Ever to Have Husbands
Aug 14, 2009
More American women are single than ever before. What are the reasons?
According to the 2007 article, “51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse,” New York Times writer Sam Roberts analyzes census results and claims that this may be the first time, in American history, that more women are unmarried than married.
Single Women
The article continues, “In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse.” For some older women, this may be a shock. For others, this may not be news, at all.
Statistics about the number of married couples have been trending downward for years. And in 2005, the tipping point was reached, as data showed less than half of all American households included a husband and wife. Some of the reasons for this trend:
- Young ladies choose to marry later in life
- Older women remain single after divorce or widowhood
- Women are looking for someone who is good for them
- Divorce has become more common within the last few decades
Race and Marriage
Roberts says that the statistics on single-women households varied when broken down along racial lines. Seventy percent of African American women and fifty-one percent of Hispanic women are currently unmarried. Forty-five percent of white women (non-Hispanic) and forty percent of Asian women are unmarried. The percentage of unmarried black women might be astounding to women who have never heard this sad statistic.
Video: Why Women Stay Single
Why So Many Singles?
Why are there so many single women? Roberts believes these are some of the main reasons:
- Sometimes, the numbers reflect a temporary arrangement, such as when a husband is in the military.
- Many women wait until they finish college or establish their careers before marrying.
- Older women often find that they have paid their dues while raising kids and taking care of their husbands, and find they like their newfound freedom.
- Others have not found a suitable new man, though they would remarry, given the right circumstances.
Change in America
Professor Stephanie Coontz, from Evergreen State College near Seattle, is quoted by Roberts as saying, “On average, Americans now spend half their adult lives outside marriage.”
In the same article, William H. Frey, who studies statistics for the Brookings Institute, Washington DC, described this new world as a time of “greater independence and more flexible lifestyles." Frey explains that younger women understand they will spend much of their lives alone. Yet, the concern is that many older women do not like living alone.
However, many older women are happier being single because they don’t have to answer to anyone. They can spend their time and money as they see fit. Also, many of their cohorts are divorced or widowed, so they have single friends.
Marriage Statistics
Roberts based his analysis upon the 2005 Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Of the 117 million women age 15 and over:
- 63 million are married
- 3.1 million are legally separated
- 2.4 million have a husband who lives elsewhere
This means that 57.5 million American women live with a husband and 59.9 million are living with no husband in the home, for various reasons.
A larger percentage of men, about 53 percent, are married. This is possible because there are a greater number of women than men.
Read more articles about marriage and divorce
How will America change as more and more Baby Boomers become single? No one knows for sure, but most likely, there will be an even higher percentage of single women in the future. So, single gals will most certainly have a lot of friends in the neighborhood.
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