Changes in Women and Marriage
Changes in Women and MarriageAbstract
This paper presents an in-depth discussion about the changing
relationship between women and marriage. Economic factors, a rise in
feminism, parents� influence, attitudes about sex, educational
pursuits, and divorce statistics are discussed and their influence on
women�s attitudes toward marriage are explored. Cultural changes that
have impacted women�s lives are also examined. The purpose of the
paper is to explore the changes affecting women, their attitudes
toward marriage, and their expectations of marriage. This paper will
primarily concentrate on the question of why women delay marriage. The
sources used to develop this paper are published journals, the text
for this course along with other books related to this issue, and the
Internet.
The Changing Relationship Between Women and Marriage
Over the past four decades there has been substantial changes
in the attitudes toward marriage among women in the United States.
These attitudes relate to gender roles and social changes in today�s
society and have contributed to women marrying later than their
ancestors married. Studies show American women are waiting longer
than ever to get married. Their median age at first marriage hit a
record high of 24.5 years in 1994, up from 20 years in the mid 1950�s
(Crispell, 1996). That�s the oldest age since the Census Bureau
started to ask about age at marriage in 1890. Of course postponing
marriage means an increase, at any given time, in the number of people
who have never wed, and that is also reflected in the census study.
From 1970 to 1994 the number of Americans aged 18 and over who never
married more than doubled from 21.4 million to 44.2 million.
Additionally, women may be less likely to marry in the future.
Projections show the proportion of never married women increasing
between 1992 and 2010 for all age groups under 55 (Crispell).
According to Allen & Kalish (1984), the timing of a first
marriage is related to the attractiveness of the alternatives to
marrying. When women value roles that provide viable alternatives to
the role of wife, they delay marriage. The role of women has undergone
significant transformation brought about by changes in society.
Today�s families are smaller and live longer, thereby allowing women
to devote a smaller part of their lives to raising children than was
the case in earlier times (Allen & Kalish). Thus, more time is left
for other pursuits. A woman who enters her first marriage at an older
age is less likely to exchange dependence on her parents for
dependence on a husband (Unger & Crawford, 1992). Elder (1974) found
that women who married later were more likely to have careers,
financial stability and be middle class as opposed to lower class
background. What has transformed societal attitudes toward marriage so
that young women delay it, older women get out of it, and some women
skip it altogether? Economic factors, a...
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