Has Giving Public Aid To Women Discouraged Couples From Getting Married?

Public Aid, the money issued by the government to women who have no adequate means to support their children, was meant as a temporary emergency fund until the women were able to find employment. Unfortunately, for many uneducated women who had children in high school, the low paying jobs for which they were eligible paid less than their Public Aid checks. The Welfare system quickly became a way of life, as unmarried teen motherhood and a life on public aid was passed down generation to generation. Unless the father of her child had a job that paid more than her monthly check, a mother often made the financial decision to stay single rather than have her aid check discontinued ifshe got married. Now, with the urban crisis of single mothers, absent fathers, broken families, gangs replacing sports teams and youth organizations in communities, gang wars over drug turf, and senseless gun violence taking innocent lives, its time to examine the root of the problem - the breakddwn of marriage and family. Has giving public aid to women discouraged couples from getting married? Let's stop talking about how "men are the maintiners of women" and face the reality of what has happened. How do we use our collective economic power to finance independent businesses that would empower the men to marry their babies mothers, take care of their families and regain the respect of their children?