Labour should stop making things worse for women and children by treating fathers like "optional extras", a report by right-leaning think-tank Civitas claimed.
Labour's non-judgmental approach to families has let fathers escape without facing up to their share of the responsibility, the report said.
Childcare should be taken out of wages automatically and maternity leave should be transferable to the father after births.
The report found despite it no longer being a social necessity, people still like the idea of marriage, but they are being put off because of financial insecurity.
An Ipsos Mori survey found seven out of 10 adults aged 20-35 like the idea of marriage, rising to eight in 10 for cohabiting couples.
Almost half of the 1,560 people questioned said their number one reason for tying the knot was to make a commitment.
But according to Civitas, the poor are less likely to be in a position to commit, because of factors such as unemployment and not owning a house.
The report said unemployment, poverty and parental separation are locked in a vicious circle, with child poverty concentrated in single-parent households.
Civitas' Head of Family and Education Anastasia de Waal, who authored the report, said: "People who are financially stable are more likely to marry because it's much easier to make a commitment. People have ideals about what situation they want to be in when they get married.
"It's not a question of saying you should get married because it's better, it's a question of looking at why people aren't getting married if they want to. In the past people had to marry, today people want to."
