Frustrated by the Odds, Single Women Over 30 Seek Answers in Therapy
November 30, 1986 | ELIZABETH MEHREN | Times Staff Writer
In "Too Many Women" (Sage Publications, 1983), a book he co-wrote with his late wife Marcia Gutentag, University of Houston professor of psychology and education Paul Secord called attention to "the fact that sex ratios have changed dramatically in the United States from 1960 to 1970, from having an adequate supply of men to an inadequate supply."
'The Marriage Squeeze'
He attributes this phenomenon to what he calls "the marriage squeeze," or the fact that women have tended to marry men several years their senior. As divorce rates have climbed and birth rates have dropped, the practice has continued, leaving fewer men in the so-called "eligible" category. Soaring incomes have narrowed the marital choices for these women still further, since the same tradition that condones a man's right to choose a partner of a lower social and economic status essentially forbids the same practice by a woman.
According to Secord's sex-ratio thesis, "when you have a surplus of men, then relationships between men and women are very different. Men court women, and are willing to make a long-term commitment. Women are also apt to be relatively content with the marital role, and you have a moral tradition that expresses strong sanctions against things like adultery or premarital sex, especially for women."
But a surplus of women, he said, means that "everything changes. Men tend to have more alternative relationships with women. They are less likely to make commitments to women, and more apt to have higher divorce rates."
In the view of Los Angeles psychologist Annette Baran, the surplus of women is not the only aspect of the male-female equation that is off balance these days. "We have a whole generation of men who wanted to remain boys, who didn't want the responsibility of being men. Adolescence for men I think used to last until 30. Now it lasts until 40." At the same time, she said, "you have women who have learned to take care of themselves--who have, in effect, become men. The pieces aren't fitting. It's become skewed."
http://articles.latimes.com/1986-11-30/news/vw-25_1_marriage-rate