Episode 13 - The Rise of the single black woman 

Is there a Rise in the number of Black women who are single? This is part 2 of our discussions around love and dating for black women. The last episode we looked at the world of navigating dating, especially in your mature/fine years. The challenges, opportunities, and just how that whole landscape has changed. This episode Di Tree Of Wi looks at the potential fallout of that landscape, how it impacts black women, and is this contributing to the talk of the increase in the number of single black women. For the first time on record, the number of people who are married has dropped below 50 per cent in England and Wales.    Going to the chapel and we’re… not gonna get married, as it turns out. That’s because, for the first time on record, the percentage of over-16s in England and Wales who are wed or in a civil partnership has fallen below 50 per cent, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates for 2022. The figure had dropped to 49.4 per cent from 51.2 per cent a decade previously. It’s the latest stat proving the fact that marriage is on the decline. And not just in the UK – it’s a trend that’s happening in countries all over the world. Almost 90 per cent of the world’s population now live in countries with falling marriage rates; in the US, marriage has decreased by 60 per cent since the 1970s. The far-reaching tentacles of oppression via the transatlantic slave trade, chattel slavery, and mass incarceration have depleted the Black male marriage market. Meanwhile, what’s left of the market is further complicated by colorism and beauty hierarchies, leaving heterosexual Black women who desire to be married to a Black man, single for far longer than they intend. It is one thing for a Black woman to choose singleness—which is their prerogative; not everyone desires marriage. It is another thing entirely to desire marriage and to have your agency with regard to your marital status stripped away from you due to mechanisms of oppression that have been in motion for hundreds of years. What are the factors that maybe contributing to single black female? The discussions around the lack of available men Colourism is this a factor? Stereotypes  Desirability Di Tree Of Wi also discuss feedback from some of our listeners and friends on their thoughts on the Rise of the single black female and the contributing factors.