© Lindsay
Soll 2003
lindz21@ufl.edu
Marriage Today
Today's reality is that plenty of people, male and female, covet a "wife" of their own. But almost nobody actually wants to be one, at least not in the classic sense of the word. This is because the term "wife" generally has a negative connotation. It usually means to basically be a domestic servant.
Most women nowadays are asking themselves: "Why bother marrying at all when you don't need a husband to have sex, economic support, shared residence and even children?"
Today's
woman is encouraged to be independent and career-oriented.
However, because the phase of life devoted to forming relationships and establishing families (usually age 25-30) is also the period of life when career-oriented individuals devote almost exclusive attention to developing their careers, more women are choosing to put off marriage.
"By 2000, the average age for young women [to marry] had increased to 25.1 and for men, to 26. 8. Clearly, Americans are marrying later today than in the 1950s," says Dr. Constance L. Shehan, a sociology professor at the University of Florida.
The
proportion of never-married women and men between the
ages of 30 and 34 is more than triple the percentage of never-married
single people in 1970, according to Diversity in Families,
a sociology textbook.
In fact, the age of first marriage was higher for women in 2002 than at any time since data were collected on the subject in 1889.
As for the future of marriage, the age at first marriage will continue to increase and remain high. In fact, there is a strong belief there will be less divorce because there will be fewer people even getting married.