Introduction; definition of marriage
Marriage is widely accepted as a social institution that a male and his female companion decide to spend their lives together as husband and wife. The marriage institution has a backing of almost all the major religions. Marriages in America are characterized by legal commitment and either religious or secular celebrations depending on the couples’ religious alignment. It is, therefore, one of the most respected social institutions in America. Generational perpetuity is greatly dependent on the marriage institution. This easy will discuss the American women and their perspective and views regarding this very important institution in the human race.
Trends in marriage
The divorce rate in America is escalating every single year and the numbers of single parents still increasing as the days go by. In addition, the divorce trend has gained root among American married couples. However, there has been a category in the adult American couples that do not fall in either the married or the divorced category. These are the individuals who choose to circumvent marriage or those who divorce without filing a legal confirmation. The trend described as an emotional divorce rather than a legal one is rapidly rising among women. In America, this is the state of the majority of marriages. The increasing number of divorce cases filed today is a major setback to the integrity of the marriage institution.
Many young adults discouraged by the current trends in marriage are opting to settle for casual relationships and cohabiting. Unfortunately, the failure in marriages in the United States is doing more harm than good in the lives of young people. With the current calls to empower women and with education, the culture of marriage is slowly fading away. Young people especially young women are so much concerned about their academics more than they worry about having a family. It has become a woman’s dream to be independent and to earn her own salary and resources.
It is true that, while this is a good move for women to be empowered, their endeavors are ill-intended. The intention of women to be financially stable has proven to be a tragic ambition. The basic reason for women to be financially stable is so that they can no longer depend on their spouses. This freedom is quite tragic and it is the main reason for the numerous divorce cases today. An independent woman will not listen to her husband and more often, submission becomes a problem when a woman is self-sufficient. The generations of women living today not only want to be financially stable as they pretend to, but are also in competition with their male counterparts.
Women’s perspective of marriage in America
Young women in America have a belief that love exists even without marriage. This philosophy has made young women become reluctant in the sense of finding a life partner. The see it in the news and hear it from their peers that marriages do not last and that the marriage commitment is not an easy one to abide to. The negative influence stirred by people who they look up to, they have become paranoid about the marriage affair. Besides, they have a belief that for having children one does no need to get married. Taken to be the reality by many young women, this notion has made it a challenge to convince them otherwise.
With the increasing number of single mothers who are single out of their own choice, it has become almost impossible to justify the importance of the marriage institution. Young people have simply come up with an alternative to the marriage situation and the need for getting married is no longer in existence. Marriage in the ancient days was a way to keep the family lineage. Unmarried couples could not have sexual relations hence having children could only happen with married couples. Today the situation is very different and the main reasons for the marriage institution are becoming irrelevant among this generation.
Today’s women do not need to stay at home waiting for their matrimonial men to provide for their needs. Women have pursued learning and are out there in the market firmly competing with the men. Today women are comfortably pursuing jobs that traditionally only men could do and surprisingly they perform better than men do. Therefore, women have no need for men in their lives. For provision, the women are able to cater to their needs financially hence; they do not require a man to rule their world. Women’s perspective on the marriage institution is drastically changing taking a different angle from the traditional religious direction.
Women today view marriage as a waste of time and a limiting factor in their pursuit of excellence. Building a career has become more important for American women that they choose to forfeit their marriages for the sake of success. Women today consider marriage as a challenge rather than a way of life. They think a marriage relationship is a limiting factor and surrender under the mercies of restrictive husbands. Marriage to them has turned into a jail term that one sentences herself in the name of love. The alternative to having all the benefits of a married woman even without having to get married is the root cause of the new order in the light of social relationships.
Comparison between married women and unmarried women
Convincing a young woman today to get into a marriage relationship is quite challenging. Looking at the factual situation in the current generation, women who are not married have a lot to admire from compared to their married counterparts. A bigger percentage of women who have risen into powerful positions in politics and in the corporate world are single women. This does not mean that they do not have families or more specifically children. Actually, most of the most successful women in the United States today were once married but got divorced.
Women who are in a marriage relationship, on the other hand, have no much that young women can admire. They are mostly homemakers who are financially inefficient and powerless. Young women definitely will not be attracted to this kind of life under all circumstances. The former lifestyle is definitely the most appealing than the later hence the rising number of single women in the United States today. Young women want to be self-sufficient and powerful. They have received training on how to set goals and go for them regardless of the obstacles. They know to be able to reach the goals they have to overcome and avoid every kind of obstruction along their way.