Hot Toys November 2009
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Business Week is running an interesting and rather controversial article that weighs the pros and cons of whether low income women should get married to improve their financial situation. The debate style article, represented by Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution on the pro-side and by Maria Cancian of the Russell Sage Foundation is an interesting black/white discussion that is worth reading.
Haskins main point is that “higher marriage rates among the poor would benefit poor adults themselves, their children, and the nation.” He argues that “marriage has declined more among the poor and minorities than among the middle class” and that “children living in single-parent families are about five times as likely to live in poverty.” The conclusion? “If we can learn how to help couples who want to marry, the payoff to them, their children, and society is potentially enormous.”
Cancian, on the other side, believes that “marriage promotion policies will not solve the poverty problem.” She argues that a misplaced focus on marriage promotion threatens to distract us from making the most of some important good news: More single mothers are working and keeping their families out of poverty, and we have many proven policies to support their efforts.”
than promoting marriage as a solution to the problem, she suggests a “focus on proven approaches to improve single-parent families’ economic security by making work pay a reasonable return, encouraging nonresident fathers to do their part, and helping single mothers manage the challenges of being both primary parents and workers.”
You can read the entire article here.
