Is marriage still useful in society today?

by Harold Lane

As more generations are born, societal norms change and evolve. One thing that has stayed constant, however, is the institution of marriage. Many people feel marriage is a necessary step in life. However, it seems to be dying out. Is marriage still necessary?

Just looking at statistics, only about half of Americans over age 18 are married, which is down from 72 percent in 1960. This could mean that people are just focusing on other areas of their lives before they get married.

However, looking more into the data, only around 64% of married people in America are happy with their relationship and America has the highest divorce rate of any country.

Studies done by Psychology Today have also shown that people are generally more connected to the world around them when they’re single and they become closed off when they’re married. But why is this?

As mentioned before, social norms change over time and so has marriage. Originally, marriage was about power and control. To some extent, it was used as a tool to join families, control women, and continue bloodlines.

Over time, it has evolved but there are still effects from the older marriage that can be seen today. This can be seen in many stereotypes such as the very common housewife stereotype.

However, it doesn't only affect the married couple. Due to its origins, having kids is seen as the next step after marriage. Around 8% of couples regret having children, which may seem small but 86% of Americans have kids making that 8% a huge amount of people.

Marriage hasn’t only been able to control women. However, it has also been used to control many disenfranchised communities. For example, interracial marriage was legalized countrywide in 1967 and according to a study done 17% of Americans thought interracial marriage was morally wrong.

Another example is marriage being used to oppress members of the LGBTQ+ community. Gay marriage was only legalized in 2015 and 33% of people in America still don’t think gay people should be able to get married.

But what are the implications of this, what can a married couple do that any other person can't? One area is healthcare, where unmarried people face constant discrimination. Studies have shown that single people generally are less likely to receive surgery or radiotherapy and generally, fewer single people survive cancer. This, along with the discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community, in the health care system, can lead to serious health problems for gay people.

Many married couples can also take time off for things like maternity leave or just taking care of a spouse while single people can't even if their relationship is as good as a married one. Many healthcare plans also allow patients to add a spouse to get lower rates on their health care but they can't add a close friend, which could be an obstacle for gay people.

Another way marriage discriminates against gay people is when it comes to adoption. Single people can adopt. The legal process is much longer and harder especially for gay people as many religious adoption agencies can legally reject gay people even if it would be better for the child, For reference, there are 400,000 kids in the foster care system. Out of that population, 100,000 say they want to be adopted.

Overall, because of its legal nature marriage nowadays serves as an obstacle for disenfranchised communities, and in the past, it has historically been used to control women, and now it's being used to restrict people's access to healthcare and being able to care for a loved one.