Asian Women Resist Marriage
The Economist reveals in a new report that among Asian women there is a sharp trend toward delaying marriage or even rejecting it altogether. This is nothing new in the West, where huge percentages of the populations in European and North American countries are choosing to cohabit and have children outside of marriage. But the difference in Asia is that most of the unmarried women are not doing either of those things, forgoing family life completely.
- 37% of Taiwanese women aged 30-34 and 21% of 35-39-year-olds were single in 2010
- 12% of Thai women entering their 40s were unmarried in 2000
- In Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, the share of unmarried women in their 30s has risen by 20+ points in the last 30 years
Even in China and India, the two “giants” of Asia where marriage (and often arranged marriage) is still the norm, the marriage age is rising, divorce is increasing, and more people are choosing their own spouses.
“It’s a global village. If I can’t find a Taiwanese guy that accepts my age, I can find another man somewhere else.”— Yi Zoe Hou, age 35
WHY WOMEN ARE STAYING SINGLE
- Asian women now have more autonomy with the increase in female education and employment (two-thirds of East Asian women now have jobs)
- Marrying later means bearing fewer children
- Traditionally Asian women “marry up,” but now those with good education and jobs have fewer potential partners
- Asian women are expected to do much more than men in terms of housework and child-rearing, resulting in a less satisfying balance of family life and work life
“Why should I have to settle down to a life of preparing tofu soup, like my mother?”— An unmarried South Korean woman
While these trends show that women are gaining personal independence in Asia, there are significant downsides that could eventually result from women refusing to marry (particularly in the countries where there is already a surplus of men due to years of sex-selective abortion):
- A rise in prostitution
- Brides traded or forced into marriage, possibly even with multiple men
- Wives forced to stay in the home and out of sight by their jealous husbands
- Unwanted out-of-wedlock pregnancies due to unavailability of contraceptives for unmarried women
Bookmarks
Featured
- Enterprising Japanese Women Network Among Themselves
- Women Mean Business Conference in Mumbai
- 20-first Goes to Asia
- China's Population
- Indian Women Fight For Their Voice in Parliament
- New Study Measures Board Diversity in Asia Pacific
- MasterCard Index Shows Increased Gender Balance in Asia/Pacific
- Indian Women's Lives Improved By Mobile Phones
- Women Playfully Protest in China
- Japan Must Boost Its Birthrate
- A Turning Point for Women in India
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