As part of an ongoing discussion of women and economic issues hosted by the Roosevelt Institute's New Deal 2.0 blog, we discuss how the Great Recession has exposed the fault lines of traditional family values.
The economy and biology are on a collision course. The latest news confirms what many women fear -- wait too long and your eggs are gone. The scientific findings aren't quite that bad. According to a new study by researchers at the University of St. Andrews and Edinburgh University, by age 30, most women retain only 12 percent of their original egg reserves, and by age 40 just three percent. Three percent may be still be on average 9000 eggs -- more than enough to get pregnant -- but the odds definitely change.
So what we should be doing if we want to make sure our descendants are still around in another generation or two? The answer, like everything else about families and the economy, is two-pronged.
First, the Great Recession is likely to accelerate the ongoing disinvestment in the human capital of the new generation, and initiate a new round of "dumber and dumber." Consider the immediate effect. Hard times make the responsible, thoughtful, cash-pressed wait longer -- there goes that ticking biological clock. The Guttmacher Institute reported last fall that 64% of American women "could not afford to have a baby right now," with almost half saying they wanted to delay or reduce childbearing because of the recession.
Second, tighter finances simultaneously make it harder NOT to get pregnant. The reduction in the teen birth rate in the prosperous nineties, for example, was fueled in part by more reliable contraceptives, but the new techniques, such as Depo-Provera and other injectables, are more expensive than condoms from the local drugstore. Guttmacher also reported last fall that 23% of women were having a harder time affording birth control, and other studies indicate that women in their early twenties, at the peak of fertility, have become less likely to have health care. What does all this mean?
We predict an acceleration of the trends of the last thirty years -- trends that produce family-based inequality in the U. S. A. half century ago, American family lives did not differ markedly by class or region. Today, as we discuss in our book, Red Families v. Blue Families, the part of the country identified with what we call "the Blue Family Paradigm" has embraced a new family strategy geared to the needs of the post-industrial economy. This paradigm emphasizes the importance of women's as well as men's workforce participation, egalitarian gender roles, and the delay of family formation until both parents are emotionally and financially ready. This part of the country already has fertility rates below replacement, and with a 2% drop in overall births last year, we suspect their fertility rates have fallen further.
By contrast, the Red Family Paradigm -- associated with the Bible Belt, the mountain west, and rural America -- rejects these new family norms, and has fought instead to reinstill marriage-based values. In this world, teen childbirth is the necessary deterrent to premarital sex, marriage is a sacred undertaking between a man and a woman, and divorce is society's greatest moral challenge. Yet, the changing economy is rapidly eliminating the stable, blue collar jobs that have historically supported young families, and early marriage and childbearing derail the education needed to prosper. The result is that the areas of the country most committed to traditional values have the highest divorce and teen pregnancy rates, and provide the least support for access to contraception and abortion. In these regions, where overall fertility has remained high, teen pregnancy rates are continuing to rise.
The U.S. has the highest unintended pregnancy rates in the developed world. Last year, the Wall Street Journal celebrated the release of a new National Center for Health Statistics report that showed for the first time in forty years, the average age of first birth fell for women from 25.2 in 2005 to 25.0 in 2006. The Journal took it as a sign that "young women are tuning in more closely to their biological clocks." [Sue Shellenbarger, "No Waiting: Younger Women Are Saying Yes to Motherhood,"]. A more in depth analysis would show that increasing teen births concentrated in the poorest states was a significant factor fueling the increase, and the overall effect was to increase the percentage of American children locked into poverty. Let's do a better job supporting men's and women's life choices!
This post originally appeared on New Deal 2.0.
Liberals are the ones more likely to hold off family until it is well-planned... We're also more likely to empathize with those who didn't plan so well, especially their children, and attempt to help them out.
What does this say about the non-planners who support conservative ideology? Is it more important that leaders tell you that you were right than to make sure you and your kids have a decent shot?
Like that study you cite at your start -- which claims to reveal new dire information about women's ability to get pregnant at 30 (only 12%) but does not tell us "12% of what" (of what they had in utero, as it turns out) or, as you note, that the 12% is more than sufficient for the huge majority of women to have kids. 25 year olds only have 22%.
Here's my piece on that, called Pushing Babies:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-gregory/pushing-babies-the-assaul_b_458098.html
The media skew aligns with the lack of infrastructure support for birth control and women's education that you point to.
I worked at a program that helped low income familes. One of my "girls" was 27, mother of 3 (the oldest was 8) who didnt work because she wanted to be a housewife. The husband made minimun wage and work 16 hours a day, every day, incluiding Sundays (just 8 hours on Sunday). She once told me: "You shouldnt have waited to long to have children. Your husband is too old and he cant play with them".
I bit my tongue not to reply: "Your husband cant play with his children because he is never home, since you didnt wait until you were actually ready to have kids".
BTW, hubby plays with our children every single day. We dedicate lots of quality time to our kids because we waited to have a family.
I am concerned by it- Those with traditional values are more likely to have children before they are ready, thus more likely not the best parents, which only negatively impacts their children.
I am engaged by it! Those with traditional values do not support reproductive health, a right of every woman.
The red family paradigm with its traditional values keep women in their traditional place, which keeps women's progress in society from truly moving forward--which seems to be what they want!
How do we get to young women born into the red family paradigm? Agreed --they need to know they have more choices in life than having a child they cannot afford, and that locks them in to a life they may realize they did not want. Laura www.lauracarroll Families of Two
I watched 20 minutes of the MTV teen mom show last night. I saw a dimwitted, sweet girl. I saw a nice boyfriend trying to participate, with no male role-models and mothers (his and the girl's) who treated him like crap. I saw a baby who will get lots of love but not grow up around one healthy relationship unless the two young people can be allowed to go off on their own and build a family.
So I would add to this article that while we can wring our hands, moan and groan about how bad it is that poor red state teens will get knocked up etc, there are things we could do to help that don't involve time-travel or shoving different values down people's throats. Let's deal with health care and affordable housing so teen parents can try to live on their own, maybe get married, learn to be parents and grownups. Let's stop quibble about what defines a family and just put families first i.e. a household where people are trying to make a life for themselves, maybe kids, probably pets, possible older relatives. Save the working and middle class and teen pregnancy won't be such an issue - everyone's a better parent when they are under less financial stress!!!!
The real success of these men is keeping their women around and hiding their activities.
I often want to fly small planes low over these areas and drop leaflets with some salient points printed, along with phone numbers of places women and girls can call for help. This half funny half day dream is my secret pleasure.
Are you sure your target audience could read them?