Divorce and Poverty

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how divorce in the United States is especially devastating to women and children because it contributes to the feminization of poverty. It looks at how divorce tends to be harder on women than men because men are more likely to have careers and jobs while the women are more likely to be dependent. Women thus emerge from a marriage on the average in worse financial shape than do males. It also analyzes whether whether delinquency and other social problems are the result of divorce itself or of the poverty that often accompanies it.

From the Paper:

"Women have assumed a dual role in the U.S. almost without it
being noted, and they have done so by combining work outside the
home with their domestic and child care responsibilities. Social
tensions producing more and more divorce contributed to the
growing number of families with women as head of household. Many
of these women are under-educated and under-trained and cannot
get good enough jobs to support their families, and in addition
they must continue in their role as mother (and now father) at
the same time. This is an unintended consequence of liberalized
divorce laws on the one hand and economic problems for certain
communities on the other."

More papers on Divorce and Poverty:

• Research Paper # 68884 : "Children, Divorce and Academic Achievement"
• Essay # 65467 : "Women and Poverty in America"
• Cause and Effect Essay # 148281 : "Economics after Divorce or the Death of a Spouse"

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