Abstract

Subject to Debate

According to the author, women have been unfairly blamed for a lot of things over the years. There is a bipartisan consensus in the U.S. that women cause poverty. All agree that unwed mothers, particularly teenagers, and to a lesser extent, divorced moms, are the driving force behind poverty, crime and a host of other ills. If mothers got married and stayed married, children would be provided for, the economy would flourish, crime would go down. To say that unwed mothers cause poverty is like saying hungry people cause famine, or sick people cause disease. It would be closer to the truth to say that poverty causes early and unplanned childbearing. Across the income spectrum, after all young people are having sex and young girls are getting pregnant.