Men have fewer options than women with small children?? Are you kidding me? Because the last time I checked, there really is no reliable form of affordable childcare for people who cannot pay for it out of pocket, and current welfare laws are notorious for trapping people--if you work too much, you lose all your benefits (but still don't make enough to get by), so you have to stay on welfare, and pretty much anything you do to improve your economic lot on your own results in the government pulling another rug out from under you.

The U.S. isn't nearly as badly off as a lot of places, but a lot of people here are much worse off than they should be.