Vernell Fields has always led an exciting life. Fields, 53, embarked on a college career at East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University Commerce, to pursue a career in criminal justice in the late '70s - a time when women were just beginning to prove their professional worth in the workforce.

The news that 51 percent of all women live without a spouse might be enough to make you invest in cat futures.

But consider, too, the flip side: about half of all men find themselves in the same situation. As the number of people marrying has dropped off in the last 45 years, the marriage rate has declined equally for men and for women.

Today, it's a root canal performed by the steady hands of Dr. Jones.

For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.

Art is a big part of Sandi Gordon's life as director of a gallery in Chicago.

Marriage is not. The 51-year-old is single.

KAI RYSSDAL: Defenders of marriage might want to sit down for this next one: the New York Times reports today that more women are now living without a spouse than are living with one. Experts say that's probably a first in recent history.