A review by bookph1le
All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister

4.0

This was a fascinating read, and it went in directions I hadn't expected, such as going quite far back in history to illustrate the ways in which women tried to flout the conventional marriages that often offered them little. The author raises a lot of important issues that help reframe conversations about issues like the federal minimum wage, something that isn't talked of as a gender issue, but that is, considering women are so disproportionately represented when it comes to low-wage workers. She exposes a lot of the institutional biases holding women--and the greater economy--back, and she ends with some good, concrete points about what needs to change in order to make the U.S. more equitable not just for women, but for men as well, as they would also benefit from female partners with more income, paid family leave, etc. Rather than conservatives railing against the decline of marriage, they would do well to read a book like this and do some deep thinking about why heterosexual marriage strikes so many women as such an unappealing choice.