I think that’s looking at things too simplistically.
Every country that has a pension plan equivalent to social security depends upon the young contributing to the pension plan. And if there are too few young to contribute, that results in A) much higher taxes on the young, B) substantially increased deficit spending to continue paying for those pension plans, likely leading to increased inflation, or C) failure of those pension plans.
Tens of thousands of babies are born from sperm donors each year (exact numbers are unknown since they are not required to report) - estimated roughly a million people in the US, growing every year. Many more are born from more casual arrangements that don’t involve sperm banks. Maybe double the first number. The vast majority of these babies are born to single women or two-mom families. Not saying it’s for everyone but it’s certainly an option if you want children. Also, far as I can tell this generation is mostly open to long term relationships with either gender. So where at least some young women may “compromise” is by partnering with another woman and having children through sperm donation rather than settling for a man that doesn’t feel right for whatever reason.
I see TikTok’s on this all the time (my guess is done by the post RushTok girls). It is a chuckle to see the former sorority girl making fun of herself about the life plan going askew.
Sadly true that the nation’s economy (not unique to our nation) is a kind of pyramid scheme in direct conflict with the zero sum overpopulation ecosystem disaster. Pretty much only RFK understood the need for degrowth, and that was decades ago. Only economists talk about strategic degrowth now.
Anecdotally, it seemed that in the boomer/genX generations, having daughters often had the effect of making a dad somewhat more progressive. But now the boys are sometimes off listening to people like Andrew Tate instead of absorbing generational wisdom. And blaming this on the “hot girls not liking them.” Sad
The physical ability to procreate was never the problem. The difficult part is not creating children, but raising them into kind, confident, and successful adults that achieve their full potential.
Speaking only for ourselves, I know that neither my wife or I alone could have done that as a single parent. Any number of things would have to give, whether that be missed soccer games, teacher meetings, shuttling kids to activities, paying for summer camps, or paying for college. And most importantly, what would have to give is the time that each of us gets to bond with our children because we took time off to while the other parent worked.
I think a lot of women with difficult pregnancies (and hopefully the men that support them) will not agree with this. And the single women - or men - who work their as_es off and very frequently raise kind, confident, successful adults.
You may be surprised at what you can manage when push comes to shove. Your village can be more than your partner.
But also the challenge of building wealth as a single parent. It’s more economically efficient to have two adults sharing a home and parenting responsibilities. An increase in the number of single parents is not a positive for the economy.
There are undoubtedly very capable single parents. And having a village in terms of extended family support can certainly help.
But all the personal anecdotes don’t change the facts that outcomes for children in single-parent households are, on average, worse than in dual-parent households. Here is a summary from the Brookings institute, in this case specifically talking about children raised with absent fathers:
And 1/3 to 1/2 of marriages end in divorce so that village needs to stand ready and willing.
@shmom41 - not really sure why your comment was directed at me. I simply commented that I lived in Virginia and did not know young women like the ones you do. I don’t watch tiktoks of sorority girls. (note: I was a sorority girl 45 years ago and even then my sisters and I were not in college for a Mrs. degree).
It’s harder to date as you get older, but that is everywhere. That said I know a lot of young women who did not meet the men they eventually married (or are now long time partners with) until much later than 22.
Well you are missing out on RushTok! It is slightly addictive I must say and completely mindless.
I was also in a sorority a million years ago, and while there were certainly girls who married right out of college, many did go to law or business school after graduation. But I do feel most have dropped out of the workforce, as many women tend to do as they have families.
Somewhat related, I do think the mothers on CC are a highly educated bunch and tend to have daughters and sons with solid career aspirations.
But the data shows much better outcomes across the board when comparing 2 parent households to single parents around the percentages of kids raised in poverty, the percentages who attained higher education and the percentages who end up incarcerated. Of course there are single parents who do a magnificent job on their own or with the help of a village, but I have seen enough outcomes in the Black community (along with supporting data across all races) that show the superior outcomes of 2 parent households.
But why would a woman seeking a romantic relationship with a man turn to something else?
While I did point to a general stat above on marriage my original point was that I hate to see generalizations made for a
minority (less than 50%) audience.
Pregnancy is not a piece of cake for MANY.
Children of MANY single parents are happy and successful.
And that group in the majority (more than 50%) having 2 parents or uneventful pregnancies… MANY of those children are not so happy and successful.
Looking at only the majority leaves out a significant #of people and situations.
Absolutely. Also, I am not so sure that the single parent families who might be struggling with various outcomes are the same families of uncompromising single mothers who were willy-nilly rejecting men as too conservative for them. And I am even more sure that the single fathers who might be struggling to raise children without a spouse are not the uncompromising single fathers who were rejecting potential wives as too progressive for them. I think the reasons for single parent families and their experiences are complex and vary widely.
ETA: In other words, I think the ideological gender divide may explain a lot about various social and political difficulties that some nations face (I found the article about Korea in the Atlantic fascinating), but I really don’t think that this ideological divide is driving poor outcomes for children raised in “progressive” single mother families or “conservative” single father families for that matter.
The stats for single mothers who have planned pregnancies are much better than if you lump all single mothers together. And of course there is no reason why a same sex partnership would have different outcomes than other couples. I’m just saying, women have options other than settling for a guy just so they can get married and have children - especially if they are college-educated professionals who are open to a variety of life outcomes. Many will find liberal-minded partners, some will make compromises on a partner and others will consider alternative pathways. I don’t agree that it’s women who have to always make the compromise if they want a family/children.
When I mentioned traditional demographics, I meant the woman might expand her search outside her age group, race, religion, geographic area and yes, however unlikely, gender. Have you read Untamed by Glennon Doyle?
I am just giving a warning because the percentages of unhappy and unsuccessful kids (percentage wise) is much higher in the single parent household camp (I saw a stat years ago that stated that 70% of high school dropouts come from single parent households although they are a minority). I grew up in a neighborhood full of single mothers. I grew up in a single parent household in poverty while my siblings from my Father grew up upper middle class with both of their parents. My own story is a successful one, but I saw many more failures than successes from my own neighborhood. Below is a quote from a Philadelphia paper that looked at data in Pennsylvania as example.
“More than 80% of every juvenile court disposition in 2021 involved a young person who lives in a broken home without 2 married parents. Nearly 48% live with a single mother, while a mere 15.5% live with both parents. Similar trends hold up year after year, after year.”
My own point is that we are seeing a decrease in the formation of marriages and the societal implications could be larger than most realize, especially for those who are not a part of the most educated and upper income bracketed portions of society.
I get this, and I am probably as concerned as you are about the poor outcomes faced by children of many single parent families. But I am not sure that there is any evidence that these are being driven by gender differences in political ideologies or people unwilling to compromise on their ideological beliefs.
And without a lot more analysis, I am not ready to make a Dan Quayle vs. Murphy Brown sort of argument --that some increase in the numbers single parent families among educated and middle-class women has led to harm and poorer outcomes for low income single parents. Maybe. However, I think there are so many other forces that have led to many decades of statistics like those you’ve quoted (starting with poverty, wealth inequality, segregation, and weak social support systems) that I am hesitant to draw definitive conclusions that ongoing issues such as the 80% of juvenile court cases from broken homes might stem from or even be encouraged by a more recent divergence via gender ideological beliefs. It doesn’t seem likely to me, but that is why we need sociologists, public policy researchers, and other social scientists to study these questions. Of course so many folks seem to look down on those fields, but that is for another thread… 
There’s no causation of the outcomes for single parent families. The point is simply that if increasing differences between men and women lead to more people deciding to have children on their own, then those children will by definition be in single parent families, with the challenges and disadvantages that may bring for some. However, to me it seems far more likely that in the absence of a relationship, most people would then simply not have children at all (as per the South Korea example).