The Connection Between Unemployment and Unmarried Parents

Thomas A. DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann

            The way education used to be. Back in 1960, more than twice as many men as women between the ages of 26-28 were college graduates. As late as 1970, only 14 percent of young women between the ages of 26 and 28 had finished college, compared to 20 percent of men. But then a dramatic change occurred. While men’s college completion rates slowed, women’s skyrocketed.

CCF ONLINE SYMPOSIUM:

FEMINISM AND FAMILIES TODAY: WHAT’S THE NEW MYSTIQUE?

On the 50^th Anniversary of The Feminine Mystique, Council on Contemporary Families Scholars identify what’s changed—and what hasn’t

CONTENTS:

• Mystifying “The Feminine Mystique”: Four myths about Betty Friedan and feminism / Stephanie Coontz
• The Youth and Beauty Mystique: Its Costs for Women and Men / Paula England
• Sexual Mystiques: Do we still like it old school? / Virginia Rutter
• The UNFEMININE Mystique: Stereotypes about African-American Women / Shirley Hill
• Lesbian Mystiques / Judith A. Howard
• Latinas' Mystique / Lorena Garcia
• The Rise of the Motherhood Mystique / Cameron Macdonald

Download the PDF of the symposium here

Aging Alone in America

A briefing paper prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families

for Older Americans Month May 2012

By Eric Klinenberg, New York University

Stacy Torres, New York University

Elena Portacolone, University of California, San Francisco

In just eight years, there will be more Americans over age sixty-five than under age fifteen. By 2030 the number of people over sixty-five will double, while the number of those over eighty will nearly triple. 

It's not just the number of elders in America that is unprecedented: There has also been a revolution in how and where the elderly live.

UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM: ISSUE 5

A survey of recent family research and clinical findings prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families' 15th Anniversary Conference, Crossing Boundaries: Public and Private Roles in Assuring Child Well-Being, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago Metro Hotel, April 27 and 28, 2012.

Edited by Joshua Coleman, Co-Chair, Council on Contemporary Families, and Stephanie Coontz, Co-Chair and Director of Research and Public Education, Council on Contemporary Families.

The Council on Contemporary Families aims to increase communication among family researchers and practitioners while helping the press and public access accurate information and best-practice findings about how today's families work. In this issue of "Unconventional Wisdom," we asked conference participants along with other CCF scholars and clinicians to send in short descriptions of recent research findings, practical experiences, clinical observations, new interventions to help families, and other topics related to contemporary family issues. See also: Unconventional Wisdom, Issues 1, 2, and 3 and 4.

Download the complete report as a PDF file.

4-11-2012

WOMEN'S EDUCATION AND THEIR LIKELIHOOD OF MARRIAGE:

A HISTORIC REVERSAL

A FACT SHEET PREPARED FOR

THE COUNCIL ON CONTEMPORARY FAMILIES

Paula England and Jonathan Bearak, New York University

Historically, women who graduated from college were far more likely than any other group of women -- whether high school dropouts, high school graduates, or women with some college - to remain single their entire lives. As late as 1950, a quarter of white female college graduates 40 years of age had never married, compared to compared to only 7 percent of their counterparts without a college degree. (See this CCF Report.) But what has happened since women have been completing college and obtaining advanced degrees at much higher rates, and since divorce has become easier to obtain?

Philip Cohen Reponds to International Women's Day Discourse

For more than 30 years, people concerned about the global inequality between men and women have been circulating the claim that women receive only one-tenth of world income and own only 1 percent of the world's property. This claim was repeated on CNN and other outlets for International Women's Day.

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Responses to "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

In an online symposium organized by the Council on Contemporary Families for Women's History Month, David A. Cotter, Joan M. Hermsen and Reeve Vanneman present their discussion paper "Is the Gender Revolution Over?" and CCF fellows from around the United States offer responses are linked to below. Press release can be found here.

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Rejoinder to Responses to "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

Our Response to the Gender Revolution Commentaries

David A. Cotter,
Professor and Chair of Sociology, Union College, Schenectady NY

Joan M. Hermsen
Associate Professor of Sociology & Chair of Women's & Gender Studies
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

Reeve Vanneman
Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Response to "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

In Sex and Romance, Not So Much Gender Revolution

Paula England

Professor of Sociology, New York University

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Response to "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

Gender Evolution among Employed Men

Ellen Galinsky

President, Families and Work Institute

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Response to "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

Divergent Revolutions for Blacks, Latinos, and Whites

Janelle Jones

Labor Market Researcher, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Response to "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

No Stall in the Sexual Revolution

Brian Powell

James H. Rudy Professor of Sociology, Indiana University

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Council on Contemporary Families Gender Revolution Symposium:

Keynote: "Is the Gender Revolution Over?" by

David A. Cotter, 
Professor and Chair of Sociology, Union College, Schenectady NY

Joan M. Hermsen
Associate Professor of Sociology & Chair of Women's & Gender Studies
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

Reeve Vanneman
Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

From 1968 through the 1980s, the former Phillip Morris company promoted a new brand of cigarettes to women under the slogan: "You've come a long way baby." For once, an ad agency was not exaggerating. Between the early 1960s and the end of the 1980s, sex-segregated want ads were outlawed, equal pay laws were passed, courts prohibited older practices of establishing admissions and hiring quotas and assigning promotions on the basis of sex, laws giving husbands authority over their wives were repealed, women gained access to educational fields, sports, and jobs formerly closed to them, and traditional prejudices against women dramatically lessened.

But what has happened since the end of the 1980s?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Stephanie Coontz
coontzs@msn.com
360-352-8117

"YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY." OR HAVE YOU?

In Time for International Women's Day on March 8, Researchers at the Council on Contemporary Families Debate: "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

MIAMI, March 6, 2012--In 1973 - less than 40 years ago -- the Supreme Court ruled that sex-segregated employment ads were illegal. The next two decades saw massive, rapid action in eradicating old laws and prejudices. But now three researchers argue that progress toward gender equality has slowed or even stalled since the early 1990s. In an online symposium organized by the Council on Contemporary Families in time for International Women's Day, David A. Cotter, Joan M. Hermsen and Reeve Vanneman present their discussion paper "Is the Gender Revolution Over?"

A New Report from the Council on Contemporary Families:

The Recession Is Officially Over, But How Are American Families Faring this Holiday Season?

Retailers report that this year's post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend broke all previous records, raising predictions of "the best holiday shopping season ever." Yet the number of people living in poverty has also broken all previous records.