How Marriage Lifts Families Out of Poverty

The organization behind National Marriage Week USA (in February) makes the case that marriage must be part of the current political debate about income inequality and how to reduce poverty.

“Today 53 percent of all babies born to women under age 30, are born outside of marriage,” said Sheila Weber, executive director of National Marriage Week USA. “If we had the marriage rates today that we had in 1970, we’d have 25 percent less poverty.”

“The decline of marriage is our most neglected national emergency,” says Weber. “Yet the wealthy are doing a better job at keeping marriages intact and their children are benefitting from the influence of both male and female parenting influence and from enriching educational habits in those homes.

“We must find ways to help impoverished single mothers learn more about how to enrich their own home life; and despite their current circumstances, to give their own children a vision that marriage can be in their future aspirations, because marriage brings greater financial stability, better health, and brings the greatest advantageous way to in turn raise their own children.”

“We need for ministries, non-profits, schools and churches to find ways to serve fatherless boys, who may not be getting any messages that marriage can even be an attainable goal for them. The pendulum has swung too far away from the historical cultural norm of dutiful manhood; we need a radical change of message, thinking and habits to raise the next generation of young men. Of course, women also need some new messages — that forestalling sexual intimacy and childbearing until marriage provides them a healthier future and is best for their children,” said Weber.

National Marriage Week USA is a campaign to increase marriage education nationwide and provides the only online national marriage calendar to list and locate any and all marriage classes all year. To list or locate an event (it’s free) — click National Calendar at www.nationalmarriageweekusa.org.