Did you know that it had even begun? That is right National Singles Week or as it is now known National Unmarried and Single Americans Week is almost over. Are you one of the 89 million singles in the U.S.? I still am. Have you received a greeting card from a concerned friend to commemorate this week? Neither Have I.
So what is this week all about? Well how about some history of this week from UnmarriedAmerica.org the organization behind the promotion of this week. They say on their site that it started out:
A commemorative week known as “National Singles Week” was started by the Buckeye Singles Council in Ohio about 20 years ago. When that organization folded, the promotion of National Singles Week was taken over by Janet Jacobsen, coordinator of the National Singles Press Association.
What is with the name change? Well according to their site:
Many of the millions of unmarried Americans do not identify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners, or are recently widowed. And yet many other unmarried Americans proudly describe themselves as “single.”
In order to accommodate the interest and identities of as many unmarried people as possible, since 2002 we have been commemorating the third week of September as Unmarried and Single Americans Week. Other individuals and groups continue call it National Singles Week.
Whatever you call it, it is supposed to acknowledge the contributions to society of single people. I have to admit that this is the first year I had ever even heard of National Singles Week, let alone this organization. They used to be an advocacy organization for singles and the unmarried. Unmarried America is now an information service, which states that singles:
… deserve equal rights and fairness as workers, consumers, and taxpayers. We also want politicians and political parties to pay more attention to us as voters.
While politicians should pay some attention to the concerns of singles, as an information service their site is light on details of exactly which rights and fairness’s need to be equaled. They do provide some interesting census stats on their site:
89 million
Number of unmarried adults in the United States as of March 2004. 53 million had never been married. 22 million were currently divorced. 14 million were widowed.
13.3 million
The number of people, ages 25 to 34 in 2000, who had never been married; this number represents 35 percent of all people in this age group. The total of never-been-marrieds among the 35-to-44 age bracket was 6.9 million or 15 percent.
12 million
The number of single parents in 2000. The number of single mothers increased between 1970 and 2000, from 3 million to 10 million; over the same time frame, the number of single fathers increased also, from 393,000 to 2 million. (Single mothers and fathers include all those who are not currently living with a spouse.)
35%
The percent of voters in the 2000 presidential election who were unmarried. Nearly 37 million voters were divorced, widowed, or never married. Married individuals (67 percent) are more likely to vote than widowed (59 percent), divorced (54 percent), separated (46 percent), and never married individuals (44 percent). Separated and never-married individuals are generally younger, which also influences their voting patterns.
About 40 million single Americans are using online dating services. Looks like a lot of these single and unmarried Americans don’t want to stay that way. If you are one of them and have not yet ventured into online dating yet, why don’t you click on over to Match.com or Yahoo! Personals which right now are offering a 3-day
and a 7-day free trial respectively. Or, try eHarmony or PerfectMatch and get a free personality profile. I am presently using eHarmony and have not done more than poke around the others but if you are thinking of going this route, these are the big four online dating services.
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