OPINION:
Tuesday’s article about the new Census Bureau data on women’s education and fertility rates does not mention until the last paragraph the impact that marriage, or the absence thereof, has on the rate of childbearing (“Education level inversely related to childbearing,” Nation).
That may be the most important factor of all. I have several very well-educated women friends in or approaching their early 40s who would certainly have had kids by now if they had found suitable husbands. The fact that they do not has nothing to do with their college or postgraduate work. I nearly fell into this statistic myself, marrying at 39 and having two children in my early 40s. Whether education levels might keep husbands away is another, more awful, question.
CATHY RUSE
Senior fellow for legal studies
Family Research Council
Washington
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