This morning, NewsBusters' Mark Finkelstein reported (here)
how CBS anchors yucked it up over a front-page story in today's New
York Times that blared,
"51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse." This study is nothing
to laugh at. Its findings are incredibly misleading, if not dishonest.
The Times got their numbers from the Census Bureau's new
American Community Survey, which surveyed "117 million women over
the age of 15." Wait a minute. "Over the age of 15"?
Is it really a surprise that millions of 15-20 year-olds are "living
without spouse"? It shouldn't. In addition to several cultural factors,
the
age of consent in the United States averages just over 16 years of
age.
By the way ... How often would the Times label a 15-year-old as a
"15-year-old woman" (emphasis mine)? Twice, as it
turns out, since 1981. (One is in a 1981 travel article on China;
the other is in a 1987 sports piece on diving results.) Meanwhile, the
term "15-year-old girl" (emphasis mine) returns 756
results in the Times' archive going back to 1981. (And in a number of
the articles, the words are used more than once.)
Also, the Census survey's
"Data Profile Highlights" page simply refers to "Female, Now
married, except separated (population 15 years and over)," not
"women," as the Times puts it. In addition, the Times took the added
measure of deducting 2.4 million women who were married but "said their
husbands were not living at home for one reason or another." So if a
woman's hubby works overseas for much of the year, she wasn't counted as
"living with spouse." Is your husband serving in the military in another
country? It looks like you weren't counted either. Although the Times
acknowledges such scenarios, it didn't stop them from using the
deduction to get that nice-looking "51%" result they touted.
And, finally, for what it's worth,
1996 census report on marriage and divorce (pdf file) stated that
"nearly everyone marries" (at least once during their lifetime).
Misleading. New York Times.
(Need I say that the Times piece took a very positive tone
towards these "women without spouse"? Of course not. It goes without
saying.)
HT: Michael
Medved and
Larry Elder.