Ruth Institute Blog

Can we judge the status of a woman by her pay check? Have women arrived when they have half the seats in the legislature and their husbands do half the chores at home? This is Part I of a symposium by Mercatornet.com on improving the status of women by 2020.

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse’s take on the situation:

I have a radical idea for promoting the dignity of women: the idea that giving birth to children inside marriage is good and worthy use of one’s time and talent. This idea has come under assault from many directions. Read more…

The BYU symposium generated a bit of local publicity. Here is an article about my opening talk that kicked off the conference. The author did a reasonable job of identifying the important points of my talk.

Americans are being taught to believe they’re generic humans, that “we’re not men and woman, we’re generic parents, we’re not moms and dads,” she said. “Ladies and gentlemen, there are no generic people!” Read more…

Lots of good stats in here.

by Carolyn Moynihan

When will young adults get the message that living together does not increase their chances of a lasting marriage? New analysis of US national data shows that, on average, cohabitation actually decreases by 6 percentage points the likelihood of marriage lasting 10 years or more. Read more…

Interestingly, a study shows that those who marry between the ages of 20-24 have the lowest divorce rate. It was also suggested that “little or nothing is likely to be gained by deliberately delaying marriage beyond the mid twenties.”

David Lapp

Marriages of people in their early to mid-20s are not nearly as risky as you think.

When my very smart and relatively young girlfriend (she was then 20) first told her father she was thinking of marrying me, he refused to even hear of it. “How much college debt does he have?” he demanded. “What’s the rush? Why not wait until your career and finances are established? How do you know he’s the one?” Read more…

Writing at the Vatican News Service, Fr. John Flynn summarizes a series of recent reports from British think tanks on the benefits of marriage. On Feb 9th, the English think tank, the Relationships Foundation published “Counting the Cost of Family Failure,” and the following day “Why Does Marriage Matter?”

In the first briefing the foundation put at 41.7 billion pounds ($64.49 billion) the annual cost of failed relationships. This works out at 1,350 pounds ($2,088) for each U.K. taxpayer. Read more…

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Keep an eye out for students doing worthy pro-marriage activities and send them THIS. (Click to download basic info about marriage every college student needs to know!)

***We will be mailing out NEW information soon about the latest at the Ruth Institute and how YOU can help. Sign up now to be a Marriage Champion!

National Marriage Week USA received media coverage that you may want to watch and read:

FOX News ‘Strategy Room’ Watch this provocative one-hour show with National Marriage Week USA Chairman Chuck Stetson, host Lauren Green, and other guest and friend Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse.

The Wall Street Journal Op-ed by David Lapp, associate at the Institute for American Values, entitled: Did I Get Married Too Young?: Marriages of people in their early to mid-20s are not nearly as risky as you think.

FOX Forum Commentary by National Marriage Week USA executive director Sheila Weber, entitled “Why You Should Care About Marriage In America.”

Widespread national radio coverage Brad Wilcox, Ph.D. director of the National Marriage Project at University of Virginia, Dr. Gary Chapman, best-selling author of “The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts,” and National Marriage Week USA executive director Sheila Weber were interviewed by major radio networks resulting in a vast listening audience on hundreds of radio stations all around the country!

www.nationalmarriageweekUSA.org

www.letsstrengthenmarriage.org