subject: The Pill: Less Children for Today, More Single Men for Tomorrow? [print this page] The Pill: Less Children for Today, More Single Men for Tomorrow?
The Pill: Less Children for Today, More Single Men for Tomorrow?
For this article, I will aim to uncover the economical impact of recent technological developments in contraception. An example of this would be the pill, which is used by women all over the world. It is important to note that such technology wasn't available decades ago. Women in North America had a more preserved lifestyle before the world war periods. This meant women usually stayed at home as housewives and were expected to not find work. Clearly, all that has changed now. The second world war opened up many new employment opportunities for women. Since many husbands were occupied with their war duties. The point here is that life was different in those times. Women had these expectations because maternal duties were very common. Early marriage was common due to pregnancy from pre-marital sex. This meant women had responsibilities of mothering children.
Moving ahead about 5 decades, in more developed countries, society have been introduced to new contraceptive developments. Women have the option to use the pill. This will prevent pregnancy from occurring. Thus allowing women to have pre-marital sex. With this option, women don't have to be introduced to the opportunity cost of having children. The option of pregnancy is delayed further. This causes a reduction in fertility. With this delay, women have the time to work on their personal professional development. Meaning, women have the time to educate themselves, and work more. Women have more time for their careers. What economical implications does this have?
With these new technological developments, we have gathered that women delay pregnancy and work more. If this is the case, then there is an increase in the labour supply because there are more women seeking employment. There is an increase in the enrolment of professional development programs. Assuming women are not getting pregnant earlier, this would mean they aren't getting married earlier either. With this delay in marriage, potential husbands are being withheld. Causing a pool of single men being left without marital commitments. This causes a boost in the population of people that are single.
Written by Basim Mirza Sources Benjamin, Gunderson, Lemieux, Riddell. 'The Pill and Women's Careers.' Labour Market Economics. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Canada. Page 128. Kayahan, Burc. Acadia University (Class Lecture).
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
