The number of unmarried females who gave birth in KenoshaCounty reached a new high last year. But it isn’t necessarily what you’d think. While girls 15-17 years old comprised 6.9 percent of the 816 births, a growing number of unmarried women over the age of 30, or 16.2 percent, had babies in 2005, according to annual figures released last week by Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. In fact births to teen girls have dropped in the past 10 years. In 2005, 56 births were to girls ages 15-17 compared with 89 in 1996. Births to unmarried women ages 20-24 still represented the largest percentage, or 42.5 percent, of births, according to the state’s data. Why has the number of older unmarried women having babies increased? There are numerous factors, according to experts. “It’s difficult to point to just one thing,” said Gary Brown, executive director of Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc. Traditional roles of women have changed over the last 50 to 60 years, with fewer choosing to marry in the last decade. In fact, in Kenosha County, the number of unmarried women who gave birth last year exceeded the number of marriages by 34 (816 births vs. 782 marriages), according to state figures. Last year there were also 633 divorces filed in the county. Some women who decide to have children may live as a family with the father of their kids but opt not to marry. Other older unmarried mothers have also been divorced while still pregnant — with circumstances varying from extramarital affairs to escaping abusive relationships. A few choose to go it alone a la Murphy Brown — the 1990s TV sitcom character who became pregnant and decided to raise her son as a single mother. Still others may be involved in same-sex relationships in which only the birth mother is recognized by law when accounting for the child’s family status. “Over time, we know that marriage has been the best way to raise kids,” said Brown. But the data increasingly point to fewer families that are defined by traditional marriage, Brown said. “It just looks like it’s the way they’re heading … Marriage isn’t going to be the majority anymore,” he said. In the case of some nontraditional families, he added, it may be that “we probably have to develop some different definitions.” Adelene Greene, director of the county’s Division of Workforce Development, said when it comes to the county’s welfare-to-work program, unwed younger mothers still appear to outnumber unmarried, adult women — including those in their 30s and 40s. “Anecdotally speaking, many of those you see are younger moms that come to our job center; they’re moms who have not completed their high school diplomas and have very little work history,” she said. “I’d think that the reason we see fewer (older unwed mothers) is because women who’ve reached their 30s have had at least the opportunity to get their diploma or have some college.” Greene said with the population the center serves — many mothers are in their 20s or younger — the values are typical of their generational attitudes and perceptions. “You tend to have more (unmarried couples) because their peer group accepts that,” she said. Greene also believes media reinforce alternative values by focusing on stars who live outside the traditional concepts of family and marriage. “Just look at Brad (Pitt) and Angelina Jolie. Marriage just isn’t the thing to do. All the stars are doing it (not getting married). It’s not the traditional family anymore that is the family unit,” she said.
