Waubonsee Community College

All the single ladies, unmarried women and the rise of an independent nation, Rebecca Traister

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-339)

no index present

non fiction

All the single ladies

bibliography

933728312

Rebecca Traister

unmarried women and the rise of an independent nation

In 2010, journalist Rebecca Traister started a book that she thought would be about the twenty-first-century phenomenon of the American single woman. Over the course of her research, Traister made a startling discovery: historically, when women have had options beyond early heterosexual marriage, their resulting independence has provoked massive social change. Unmarried women were crucial to the abolition, suffrage, temperance, and labor movements; they created settlement houses and secondary education for women. Today, only 20% of Americans are wed by age 29, compared to nearly 60% in 1960. The Population Reference Bureau calls it a "dramatic reversal." Traister sets out to examine how this generation of independent women is changing the world

Watch out for that woman: The political and social power of an unmarried nation -- Single women have often made history: Unmarried in America -- The sex of the cities: Urban life and female independence -- Dangerous as Lucifer matches: The friendships of women -- My solitude, my self: Single women on their own -- For richer: Work, money, and independence -- For poorer: Single women and sexism, racism, and poverty -- Sex and the single girls: Virginity to promiscuity and beyond -- Horse and carriage: Marrying, and not marrying, in the time of singlehood -- Then comes what? And when?: Independence and parenthood -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Where are they now?