This chapter covers the risks and hardships faced by single parents raising children in a two income world. It starts out by exploring ideas other groups had held in the past on the extent of the problem for single mothers and the best way to solve it. They examine the idea proposed by the women's rights movement that mothers should get a strong education so they can receive a high paycheck and be able to support themselves if their marriage collapses. Millions of women have followed this advice to the letter, going to college and seeking equal-paying jobs in the workplace. Although it may not seem like it because the general media tends to focus on low-income single mothers and all of their problems, middle-class single women have actually made significant strides. Today women can expect equal pay in almost every workplace. In addition, women are actually more likely to graduate high school and college than men are. Women are common in high profile jobs like attorneys, supervisors, university professors, and corporation board members. As if this weren't enough, women have also made strides in making sure ex-husbands pay child support. Women are now allowed to garnish child support directly from their ex-husbands' wages. Overall, the advice of the women's rights movements have been followed exactly.
However, it hasn't made any difference. Middle-class single mothers are now less financially secure than they were 25 years ago. They are now the group most likely to file for bankruptcy, be behind on their payments, and lose their homes. These women in danger are middle class and over thirty and have college degrees, houses, and good jobs.
Why are these women in the most danger? They are the ones likely to have the debt they cannot afford. These women are the ones likely to have houses they could barely afford with two salaries and now cannot afford at all with one. In addition, these women are the ones who are most likely to fight to keep these homes to try to ensure stability for their children. However, if both paychecks were committed to just staying afloat in the first place, there is little chance a single mother will suddenly be able to afford to keep the family fed, pay the mortgage, and cover all the legal fees and property losses from the divorce. These women cannot cut back by eliminating other necessary bills such as the car, college, and health insurance. They have no place to turn when the average single mother now has 4% discretionary spending from the pre-divorce income. All of these numbers do not even account for the women who remain tied to their husband's debt and are forced to help him pay it off if he goes bankrupt. These women have no choices to cut back in a world where they must compete with families earning two incomes. In short, the average woman who divorces or even splits off from a long-term partnership today starts out her single live in dire financial peril.
Many groups advocate that the best solution to the single mother's problem is to make the dad pay more. However, this solution does not stand up when scrutinized. Most dads today already pay exactly what the courts required them to pay. The ones who don't are the ones who have not yet filed for divorce or who live below the poverty line. The authors acknowledge that "Share the Pain" laws that force women and men to live at an equal economic level post-divorce are a good idea. However, when looking at the numbers, the authors show the laws would only aid, not save, women. They also dismiss the idea that fathers should share joint custody, pointing out that this idea forces both parents to pay for middle class privileges and the women often get less overall child support. Their research supports that divorced middle-class fathers are also extremely likely to file for bankruptcy (which incidentally will not forgive their alimony debts).
The authors offer a solution of their own, since the common one suggests that women get more money from men that are already tapped out. They believe their suggestions for eliminating the two-income trap (public education vouchers, encouraging personal savings) would also save single mothers. The only suggestion they make for legislation aimed directly at single women is government subsidized childcare for single women. The authors suggest that legislation attacks the problems single women face at their source: the state of their finances pre-divorce.
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