Liberal analysts argue that shrinking paychecks have thinned the ranks of marriageable men, while conservatives often say that the sexual revolution reduced the incentive to wed and that safety net programs discourage marriage.

In Lorain as elsewhere, explanations for marital decline start with home economics: men are worth less than they used to be. Among men with some college but no degrees, earnings have fallen 8 percent in the past 30 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the earnings of their female counterparts have risen by 8 percent.

My two bits:

Old habits (e.g. stereotypes) die hard. 

Women were never expected to do much for greater society besides pump out babies for the next generation and make dinner. Men have always been expected to do great/terrible things, preferably making lots of money doing them. Low public expectations vs. high public expectations.

Nowadays, women have been making great strives in typically masculine social pursuits, while men have faced a recidivist backslide (characterized by the 21st century man-child: ambiguously employed, pop culturally obsessed, questionable or trivial long-term goals & aspirations). Men are facing a loss of traditional identity that forced them into fatherhood (probably what they view as a kind of emasculation to begin with — there are studies that show men’s testosterone levels decrease significantly when they become fathers), whereas women have more identities than ever to try on & juggle (i.e. single mother, philanthropist, feminist, career woman, academic, etc.) Both sexes are feeling the pinch: men are trying to reclaim their lost identities however they can, and regressing if they can’t; women are becoming more masculine and power-oriented, taking the place of men who would otherwise be pushed into that role solely due to their gender. 

In either case, both sexes are still using old mores/stereotypes to characterize behavior and pigeonhole each other. Economic conditions and almost 100 years of slowly changing attitudes towards women in the workplace are given relatively short shrift when having a father also implies having someone that’s going to be able to pay towards little Johnny’s/Janey’s diaper/food/college fund. Although two parent incomes are pretty much a necessity in certain places, women are finding the costs of marriage (i.e. sharing a roof + bed + bank account with one person for an extended period of time) to be too odious to bear. If they can make it solo, then why shouldn’t they put it off until Mr. Sexy & Marketable comes along (or until they’re ultimately forced to settle due to one reason or another)? 

Anything else would require a drastic reorientation of the world’s socioeconomic mindset, and I don’t think that’s coming anytime too soon.  

Ultimately what I’m arguing for is gender role diffusion combined with a little contextualization, but in modern society, masculine traits are still going to be valued more than feminine traits simply because the overarching structure of society has these surreptitious undertones of masculine power dynamics. Things like “friendly” competition between men and women suits the system very nicely, makes things more efficient for itself and those it benefits, but individual mindsets have a way of being less efficient and less malleable to change.

For example, I don’t think many women these days (nor men!) would be extremely comfortable with the idea of an unemployed Mr. Mom, unless of course they are making a very comfortable salary. Work has been so ingrained and tied to the idea of manhood, be it as a warrior or a hunter-gatherer or a businessman, that without it, men lose a part of themselves (thus, the identity crisis of the modern man).

Tied to this, of course, is the fact that men have been denigrating women’s work in the private/household sphere for decades, despite it being just as (if not more) difficult and thankless. These are facts that men and women will have to come to terms with and atone for, if they ever hope to treat each other as relative equals.