Marriage

BE: Marriage

            I thought the ideas presented in this chapter were pretty relevant to the America that we live in today. Marriage has definitely changed since the 20^thcentury because America is changing as well and everything is getting modernized. Marriage might not seem necessary to some people now.  To those who do get married divorce is becoming more common as the roles of women are changing. In the 20^th century women were seen as wives that stayed home to feed the children and clean the house and make breakfast for her husband. In today’s America women are now more than able to take on the role of the 20^thcentury man and make most of the money in a marriage. I think the main reason women were not as successful in the 20^th century was because they were seen as lesser beings compared to men and they were not able to vote and do many jobs that were considered work for men. An example of this is military jobs and law enforcement I think. There is definitely more women working in these fields and being successful in today’s America. I don’t think that the idea of temporary marriage would be a good idea because that doesn’t seem like a marriage to me, because a marriage is supposed to be a commitment and not some sort of contract. I sort of feel that marriage is still alive and strong in America. After seeing that marriage is only 50% in America now then 72% in the 1960’s it definitely makes me think that marriage declining in America. These stats make a lot of sense to me because in the 20^th century it seemed that marriage was a must for a woman if they wanted to be financially stable. Being with a man who worked was every woman’s dream. I don’t know how fast or how slow it is declining but I do know that for sure it is declining. It just seems that marriage isn’t necessary anymore. Before marriage might be comparable to getting a degree in today’s world for a woman because women might have been encouraged heavily to get married back then sort of how they are encouraged to go to school now and get their degree. Another reason why marriage seems to be declining is that you don’t necessarily need to marry your partner to be committed to them because both partners are probably very educated and can assess the best situation for themselves without getting married prematurely that might lead to a divorce. Nevertheless it still seems to me that it is normal to get married. Society definitely encourages you to get married. I feel that being married is seen as a positive thing in someone because they found someone that they loved and made a commitment to stay together. Marriage also brings a social status of being seen as a well-respected person in my eyes at least. In conclusion I feel that the marriage rate has changed in America because America is so different now.