Busy Life in AmericaKajsa Collins

Are women in America are having less children in today’s society?

http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323375204578270053387770718

Table of Contents

Issue at hand Availability of Birth Control Couples are waiting to get married Women are more likely to have full time jobs, there is

an increase in stay at home dad’s Increase in the cost of child care Women are becoming more educated A Last Reflection Works Cited

Question: Why are women are too busy to have children or as many children in the current society? 

There are several contributing factors to why women are busier and have less time to raise a large family.  Women are more likely to have a job with the new rights implied for women.  Having a full time job is very trying and time consuming and this can conflict with the events leading up to a big family.   There is also the change in house roles.  Men are no longer the only person bringing in money, and sometimes the woman is the bread winner opposed to the man. 

First would be the ability of birth control.  This allows woman to have casual sex before marriage without the worry or obligation of becoming a mother.  In todays society, sex before marriage will increase the odds of becoming pregnant, but this also will increase the likelihood that there will only be one child, rather than several if the couple is happily married. This is also the reason that the age to get married has increased.

There are also the increased costs of child care.  The cost of child care is very expensive and can impact the decision on becoming a parent until you have the funds to afford all the financial issues that you must consider when you have a child, and being a stay at home mother or father is not always an option. 

Another impact could be the rise in women with a college degree. Rather than aiming to become a wife and mother, women are striving to further their education which in turn will delay their time on starting a family.

Birth Controls Impact on Average Number of Births

Over the years, new programs have risen around the country aiming to educate teens about sex and even providing them with ways to obtain cheap/free contraceptives. In this article, they discuss how the rates of teen pregnancy have fallen considerably as a result. They have also begun making all types of contraceptives such as an IUD available to all ages, which was only recommended previously to women after they had given birth. The morning after pill is now available over the counter to help with any unexpected situations that may arise, to all ages. With these efforts, teen birth rates have decreased 50% since 1991. With this significant drop, there has also been a decline in early marriages, which could continue to lead to more births. This is a significant reason that women are not having as many children as seen in earlier years.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/02/11/1568311/teen-birth-rates-plunge/

Couples are waiting to get married

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-get-married-later-2013-10

In today’s society, the average age for people to get married has increased. This means there is less time for the couple to consider starting a family. With the increased knowledge in the risks of pregnancy for women over the age of 30, and the current average age of marriage for a woman being 27 years old, this is a much smaller time frame for them to build a family.

Other reasons for later marriage include.. Couples living together before marriage An increase of women opting to live alone Fewer “rushed” weddings due to pregnancy Increase in College students Only wanting a smaller family

Women are working outside the homeIn an article by Forbes.com, they discuss how after the economy

changed, there are more women working outside the home in comparison to being a stay at home mom. Women are feeling more pressure to help provide for the family and help with the financial hardships with the dip in the economy. This would easily put a stop to the increase of children in a family home. They would feel they could not afford to support the additional children.

There is still however a large amount of deciding to be a stay at home mom due to the deciding factor that child care is too expensive to justify the income of the job.

All of these hardships have caused mothers to be unhappy. They feel that they have had to sacrifice their “me time” in order to help take care of the family. This leads to resentment toward the spouse for either feeling they are not being appreciated, or due to the fact they had to quit working while the spouse was able to continue.

All of these factors will play into the fact that women are having less children in today’s society.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/09/12/forbeswoman-and-thebump-com-parenthood-and-economy-2012-survey-results/2/

Stay at

home33%

Work-ing 67%

Mothers in Amer-ica

Stay at home Dad’s has increased

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/05/319214546/stay-at-home-dads-on-the-rise-and-many-of-them-are-poor

A recent study has proven that there is a rise in the amount of stay at home dad’s. This is due to several reasons, such as fathers that are showing support for their spouses that wish to pursue their own careers or the incline of ill or disabled men. Another issue is the hardships on finding a job. With the economy dip, there is a shortage of jobs available. Several people were laid off and have not been able to find another job to fill its place. Lastly, several men have indicated that the cost of child care fueled their reasons to stay at home.

Costs Rise in Child CareWith the declining birth rates in the United States, many believe that this is due to the cost of raising a child. Child care is one of those costs. A great way to encourage more births is to have incentives for having more children, and currently the only program to help families with children is a tax break. Other countries offer cheap child care facility's, but the US has not set up any programs like this.

From the year 2011 to 2012, the cost of child care for an infant rose 2.7 percent and 2.6 percent for a toddler. This puts a huge dent in the income budget for each family. Sadly, the more kids you have, the more it will cost you. This is the reason many families are not having as many children in todays society. In many cases, the cost of child care is exceeding the cost of their monthly food allowance and in some cases even more than their rent/mortgage.

http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1769/can-government-incentives-reverse-falling-birth-rates.html and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/childcare-tuition-costs_n_6256280.html

More Women are Attending CollegeSince the women’s rights movement in the 1960’s, an increasing amount of women are attending college in search of a career rather than just a job. In today’s society, women are beginning to outrun the men in college. From 1970 to 2001, women went from the minority at an undergraduate college to the majority.

This is a large contribution to why women are having less children in today’s society. With more and more women heading to college out of high school, this means that marriage is pushed back and the age that they are starting to build a family,

Women are aiming to create a career for themselves to build a stable life for a family. This is also proving to impact on the amount of marriages after women attend college, because women tend to be more picky on who is a suitable partner. Women tend to search for someone in the same social status and income level as themselves.

http://www.ibtimes.com/why-are-more-women-men-going-college-213255 and http://www.nber.org/digest/jan07/w12139.html

Last ReflectionAfter studying on the reasons why women are too busy to have as many children in today’s society, I have learned a bunch of new interesting facts. Back in the 1800’s women were only seen as a means to repopulate and take care of the children and home. This has changed substantially. With the new rights awarded to women, we are now making our way up the ranks and earning equality. I found it very interesting that more women are earning degrees than men in today’s society. This means that more women are holding higher degrees and higher up careers. For this very reason, women are more focused on themselves, and this will hold back the progress of the family, or at the very least, delay it. Women have postponed the average age of marriage and in turn have pushed back the age of creating a family as well. This will also shorten the amount of time that women will have to produce a healthy child, since our advances in the medical field have educated us on the risks of having a baby after the age of 30. These are all very understandable reasons that some women are having less children. But for those that do not follow the route of further education, money is also a damper on a larger family. With the recent dip in our economy, we are faced with job losses and less income. This is very difficult with the climbing rates for child care. Many families cannot afford another child, and this has also prevented larger families in the United States. I can only hope that the government can begin finding alternatives for families in these situations such as affordable child care.

Works Cited Casserly, Meghan. Forbes. 12 September 2012.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/09/12/forbeswoman-and-thebump-com-parenthood-and-economy-2012-survey-results/2/. 2 December 2014.

Cohn, Emily. Huffington Post. 3 December 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/childcare-tuition-costs_n_6256280.html. 4 December 2014.

Culp-Ressler, Tara. Think Progress. 11 February 2013. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/02/11/1568311/teen-birth-rates-plunge. 1 December 2014.

Francis, David. National Bureau of Economic Research. Unknown. http://www.nber.org/digest/jan07/w12139.html . 2 December 2014.

Ghosh, Palash. International Business Times. 6 December 2011. http://www.ibtimes.com/why-are-more-women-men-going-college-213255 . 2 December 2014.

Hales, Emily. Deseret News National. 27 June 2014. http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1769/can-government-incentives-reverse-falling-birth-rates.html . 2 December 2014.

Last, Johnathan. The Wall Street Journal. 12 February 2013. http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323375204578270053387770718. 1 December 2014.

Ludden, Jennifer. NPR. 5 June 2014. http://www.npr.org/2014/06/05/319214546/stay-at-home-dads-on-the-rise-and-many-of-them-are-poor. 2 December 2014.

Nisen, Max. Business Insider. 28 October 2013. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-get-married-later-2013-10. 1 December 2014.