Gender and the Economic Consequences of Divorce in the United States: Variation by Race and Ethnicity

Abstract

Gender differences in the economic consequences of divorce are well established and reveal how a traditional gender-based division of paid and unpaid labor can render women economically vulnerable when marriages dissolve. Guided by intersectional approaches that recognize systemic racism and entrenched gender inequality, we assess how race/ethnicity and gender intersect to pattern the economic consequences of divorce. Drawing on 28 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), we conduct a descriptive analysis of the short-term economic impact of marital disruption for non-Hispanic Black women and men, Hispanic women and men, and non-Hispanic White women and men. Our bivariate and multivariable results indicate that the economic consequences of marital disruption vary substantially on the basis of race/ethnicity and gender. All groups of women fare worse than men in post-dissolution economic wellbeing and in changes in economic status. Black and Hispanic men and the three groups of women fare worse than White men, with Black women experiencing the highest levels of economic precarity.