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Social Security and the Diversification of the Traditional Family


1 percent of employed men and 72 percent of employed women also had an employed spouse in 1991. Only 2.6 percent of these men and 2.8 percent of these women had an unemployed spouse. In an earlier decade such as the 1930s, in which traditional-style families were ubiquitous, these percentages would be much higher and would reinforce the husband as the breadwinner. In addition, 5.2 percent of men were single parents along with 18.3 percent of women. This statistic for men can be assumed to have been close to zero in the early 1900s, as the classic family consisted of two parents. These diverse types of households show increasing trends and will continue to emerge. Now more than ever, the ominous need to shift the focus from Social Security protection of traditional households to diversified families is prevalent. .
             When considering Social Security as gender-neutral, one must be cautious of relying on Social Security to affect all individuals equally. Although the system may not specifically hinder one gender, the declining gender differences in the labor force and income distribution must be considered when looking at the neutrality of Social Security. Given these changing demographics, Social Security's protection for woman has shifted since inception. Therefore, without special enactments Social Security has different effects on men and women. After World War II, the U.S. saw the first large increase of women re-entering the workforce. The average amount of time women spent in the workforce was steadily increasing, and by 1984 female workers between the ages of 21-64 had an average of only 5.3 less years of experience than that of male workers (Blau and Ferber 1992). In addition the labor force turnover rate of women had been declining such that the rate decreased by 22.2 percent in the years from 1957 to 1989 (Ferber 1993). Furthermore, to extend this reality of the large demographic change of women, differences in job tenure between men and women have also shown a steep decrease.


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