19. Wealthy Women Can Afford to Reject Marriage, but Poor Women Can't

Well-educated women with a stable income are starting to take a stand against "patriarchy" and are taking marriage into their own hands by choosing to or not to marry. However, this same action cannot be taken by all women. It is a different story for women with stable incomes and women in poverty. For a poor woman, marriage is for her economic future. It depends on raising her family with two incomes or alone. For a wealthier woman it is a choice of independence or fighting the "patriarchy." One woman can be worried about a man controlling her and losing her independence. Another woman worries about how one income can feed, house, clothe two or more people. This is not saying that all poor women should marry but the women who are fighting "patriarchy" should recognize that marriage is good for women economically. On another note, Beyonce asked why girls are taught to shrink themselves and why they are taught to aspire for marriage but the same is not taught for boys. However this question needs to be accompanied with another question, what will be the economic consequence for choosing not to marry? Women with stable incomes and good education who can support themselves can choose to not marry should not assume that low-income women are facing the choice in identical situations.
Emma Green captures the readers' attention with her straightforward title, "Wealthy Women Can Afford to Reject Marriage, but Poor Women Can't." She starts her essay with a man who said that poor women should marry to escape poverty who is sharply dismissed by Barbara Ehrenreich who said, "When you say to women, to get out of poverty you should get married, my question to them is how many men you have to marry. Marrying a 10-dollar-an-hour man gets you nowhere, so you'd really have to marry three or four." This was a very effective attention-getter which showed the view of a woman who was against "patriarchy" yet knew about low-wage workers. She addresses the problem about women fighting "patriarchy." She writes how women with stable incomes who can support themselves cannot expect women with low incomes to choose to not marry because of their completely different situations. She also explains her title by writing how for many women in poverty, marriage is for economic purposes, for the sake of raising families based on two incomes and not just one. Overall, she writes a cohesive essay that successfully explains her title. She uses logical reasoning and the voices of other women to support her essay. It was well written and very clear.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/wealthy-women-can-afford-to-reject-marriage-but-poor-women-cant/283097/