Brookings has an interesting 'Long Memo' on the marriage problem faced by educated black females. Intermarriage rates are apparently low, and educated black men are far less numerous than educated black women, So the opportunity for 'assortive' mating is low. (I don't know this is particularly a problem beyond couple's future earning potential. On paper my husband is significantly better educated than I am. But the university of life can be a better teacher than some left-wing, indoctrinating, cloistering institution - depending on subject studied.)
Anyway, it was this graph that intrigued me. It shows the significant progress of black females in relation to, not only black males, but white males (I use Brooking's labels for simplicity.) 57 percent of black women have 'some college' or 'bachelor's degree or more' versus 54 percent of white men (within the age group studied).
2 comments:
I read a similar story about a year ago. When educated Black women were thinking of marriage their choices were with under educated and feckless Black men who were mid thirties before they showed signs of maturity.
Consequently Black women owned or rented a nice flat in a nice area and invited men in for a kiss and cuddle and then kicked them out.. there was no future in marriage with them.
To a greater degree than here it does seem that US men feel marginalised in an increasingly feminised society in the cities where marriage or long term commitments doesn't offer the rewards of decades ago, even for White men.
US women still demand chivalry from their men but don't feel the need to fulfill the other side of the bargain.
WRT Blacks and similar to here.. when President Johnson introduced his Great Society of enhanced welfare he nearly destroyed Black marriage as an institution. An educated and ambitious Black woman has to put a lot of distance between her and the carnage that came from that welfare and that includes great care in selecting mates. Condoleeza Rice is probably a good example of the new Black woman.
JC
Lindsay, the reversing gender gap is now so strong in education that there is an economic literature called the lost boys.
Post a Comment