How can the promotion of marriage help reverse economic and social inequality in Irish society? This was a topic broached in the Iona Institute’s Mind the Gap briefing note which showed that marriage and family differ hugely by social class, with the best-off far more likely to marry and reap its benefits than the worst off.

That same dynamic is also present in other countries and proposals are being considered to bridge the marriage gap as a means of bridging the inequality gap. In a recent article, Alyssa ElHage of the Institute of Family Studies proposed various public-policy measures to foster a healthy marriage culture. Why? Because, she writes, “a healthy marriage culture is associated with greater economic mobility, safer communities, and the ability to form and maintain healthy marriages in adulthood”. In particular, married-parent families offer a wealth of social and economic benefits to individuals and society.

Among those are that children raised by married parents are significantly less likely to be poor, whereas single-mother families are far more likely to suffer poverty. A new Irish study also shows that family structure matters.

Married-parent families boost the academic prospects of students, especially boys, says ElHage. Research in the US, she states, has consistently shown that “a child’s home environment (family structure, parental education, and family income) more closely correlates with student success than school resources and spending.”

Married-parent families tend to be safer for women and children. In general, “unmarried women including those in cohabiting relationships, are more likely to be victims of domestic violence than married women”. Moreover, “the safest place for a child to grow up is with his or her own married mother and father, while a child living with an unmarried mother and live-in boyfriend is the most vulnerable to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.”

It is also unfortunately the case that girls who grow up in single-mother families are more likely to experience a teenage pregnancy themselves, while children who grow up in a married-parent family are more likely to form lasting marriages as adults and to raise their own children within a married union.

Finally, the author notes that “the growing marriage divide between the college-educated and the poor and working class is at least part of what’s driving economic and social inequality”. The wealthy and better educated are reaping the benefits of marriage including better education, higher incomes, and family stability for their kids in far, far greater numbers than the less educated and working class. Indeed, she writes: “Bridging the marriage divide is an important part of efforts to boost economic mobility for all Americans”.

Practical measures to bridge that gap and foster a healthy marriage culture include the following:

• Eliminate economic disincentives to marriage.
• Expand apprenticeships and vocational training programs for those who do not want to pursue a college degree.
• Expand tax benefits for children.
• Include one-earner families with stay-at-home parents in Government policies that help families with childcare expenses.

Lastly, she advises: “Promoting the importance of marriage and married-parenthood among young people through education campaigns or programs that encourage the pursuit of the success sequence of school, work, marriage, and then parenthood.”