Did the advent of women's equality destroy American families?

Question

Divorce rates are sky high because neither the husband nor the wife need each other anymore. Kids are losing it because often both parents are out working until 8 PM.

What is the cause of the disintegration of American family values?

P.S. I put this question in this section for max action.

Priscilla, great answer!

updated, I like that Rio Madeira.

I don't think kids are expensive. I think they are SPOILED (making them expensive).

Professor, can we add the Internet to that equation?

read headd, very true indeed.

Answer 1

Feminism is responsible, and militant feminists have admitted to wanting to destroy the family.

Answer 2

No women's equality is not to blame for the destruction of American families. A woman can be a great mother ,wife, and career focused. It is unfair to blame a woman's right to be educated and seek satisfaction in her career as the cause of the divorce rate. A marriage is based on love and respect. Just because a man and woman works or is successful does not mean they do not need each other anymore. If a woman is financially independent in her career it does not mean that she does not still have emotional needs. It really depends on the parenting as to the effects on the child. A child that has a stay at home parent can lose it just as much as a child of working parents. It depends on the communication, love, and attention in the family relationship.

Answer 3

Extreme Individualism. There is no room for the group, when you're an extreme individualist.
Notice that I said 'Extreme Individualism'. I say Extreme, because there should be a balance between contributing to the group(family or community) and being individual.
Now that we don't need a family unit to survive anymore, could contribute some to the cause of this issue, but not completely contribute.

When we shove the Individualist concepts down our children's throats, this will cause them to be extremely individualistic when they grow up. This basically leads to being Selfish.

Definition of Individualism: the pursuit of personal happiness and independence rather than collective goals or interests[1]

Definition of Selfish: showing that personal needs and wishes are thought to be more important than those of other people[2]

See any parallels with the 2 definitions?

Answer 4

The ability of women to leave a bad marriage more easily than in the past might be one of the causes for an increased divorce rate, but it is a change for the good. Probably the number one reason for increased divorce rates, though, is that divorce is far more accepted by society than it used to be.

Answer 5

Destruction of any family regaurdless of their origin of living is often based on some degree of selfishness (and/ or) lack of forgiveness on at least 1 person whether they know it or not alot of good choices can be made for the wrong reasons and vice versa. their is nothing wrong with equality of any person but even that must be delt with carefully for such things can be very volitle in some situations.

Answer 6

You have not established yourself as a voice of authority on the matter of why divorce rates are so high. So, I'll gather that said conclusion is a matter of your personal speculation.

Often, parents have more than one job because of the wage gap in our country, which is more likely due to corporatism than feminism.

From an analytical standpoint, first, we would need to establish a definition of "family", then establish that they had been destroyed and in what ways, in order to approach the subject of whether or not it was caused by feminism.

From a personal opinion standpoint, my answer is, no, I do not feel that the advent of women's equality destroyed American families.

Answer 7

Divorce rates have been dropping for the past couple of years. There is no good reason for a husband and a wife to stay in a marriage in which they can't stand each other. If there are reconciliable differences, by all means reconcile them, but you can't force people to stay together.

There is absolutely no evidence that having both parents work is detrimental to the welfare of the children. If anything, it makes them more self-reliant. Besides, it's hardly as if they're left all alone, or with bad people (in the vast majority of cases).

If the family has been destroyed, feminism is only to blame in isolated cases — selfishness/laziness on the part of either parent, economic issues (as Priscilla B mentioned), or personality clashes have much greater impact.

Answer 8

Where do you get your information? What studies have shown that divorce rates are high for the reason you sight? What is it kids are losing? Who works until 8:00 PM?

And tell me just what are "family values?" Isn't that a phrase made up by Republicans to make themselves look warm and fuzzy?

Is it better to have two people live together in the same house who hate each other? Are children better off then? Who do you know who can afford for one of the spouses to stay home with the kids. We all need 2 paychecks to live and raise a family. (Kids are expensive.)

Answer 9

The advent of women's equality did not do this. Militant feminists, (not all feminists) are responsible in part for telling women that they don't need their husbands, all men are liars and cheaters anyway, all men are abusers, etc. and convincing some women that they are better off with a broken home. Part of women's equality enabled women to get out of relationships that truely were bad for them, worse to stay in than to leave, so while a woman would suffer through in the past, she now can leave a bad relationship. Some of it though is society in general, telling everyone that instant gratification is the way to go, that you don't have to stick with anything you start, marry for lust and then leave rather than work out problems, etc.

Answer 10

Agree with Priscilla B.

Answer 11

People forget that in the 50's- that golden era of American prosperity we all get so sentimental about- we were living in not only a booming economy, but a fordist economy. People had higher quality jobs than they ever had before. The average person had a much better chance of living the "American Dream", owning their own home, supporting an entire family on one income, living comfortably, occasionally buying luxury items, etc.

But things weren't all rosey. My Grandmother spent that decade staying with an alcoholic husband who beat her and terrified their children. But she stayed because she knew by that age, she didn't stand much of a chance of being able to strike it out on her own and support her children alone. Sure, they didn't get divorced. Things probably looked great from the outside. But was that really so much better for everyone?

I think the "downfall" is really a result of the quality (not to mention quantity, what with so many jobs going overseas) of American jobs going downhill. Poverty inevitably leads to all kind of social problems.