Men and Women

Men’s earnings have become less important as a predictor of marriage rates in a world where women are thriving educationally and economically. Standards have risen. There are wide and high expectations for material well-being in marriage. Christians respond to these trends by exhibiting sex role flexibility in marriage—and often dual incomes—but they are not gender revolutionaries about marriage. Their behavior reveals no interest in overhauling longstanding sex role expectations. At its core, marriage is a relationship of interdependence. Insofar as spouses become functionally similar, marriage becomes less necessary and should become less popular—as is occurring today. Marriage rates are shrinking because of increasing disinterest in what marriage actually is. Marriage will never disappear, however, and its four key expectations—fidelity, totality, permanence, and children—are not social constructions. Public relations campaigns can win ballot initiatives and judges can alter marriage laws, but they cannot ignite new interest in marriage.