(image: Korea Bizwire)
GWANGJU, March 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Single men and women have different reasons for having second thoughts about marriage, a survey showed Tuesday.
The Gwangju Foundation for Women and Family conducted a survey of 1,614 single men and women living in the southwestern city of Gwangju between the ages of 20 and 39, in which 51.9 percent of men and 52.9 percent of women believed that marriage was a must.
Another 41.3 percent of men and 35 percent of women believed that they had to have children.
Single men believed the ideal age to get married was between 30 and 34 (54.3 percent) or 35 and 39 (41.3 percent). Single women wanted to get married between 30 and 34 (52.6 percent) or 35 and 39 (31.1 percent).
Social factors that drive men to think twice about marriage included ‘the experience of seeing unhappy couples after marriage’ (32.3 percent), ‘dissent against patriarchal marriage institution’ (22.6 percent), ‘the need to take care of other family members’ (16.1 percent) and ‘the risk of having to quit work after marriage’ (12.9 percent).
For women, 32.1 percent had second thoughts about marriage because ‘it is a highly patriarchal institution’.
Other responses included ‘the risk of having to quit work after marriage’ (26.9 percent), ‘the experience of seeing unhappy couples after marriage’ (20.5 percent) and ‘the need to take care of other family members’ (10.3 percent).
“An increasing number of people seem to believe that marriage imposes heavy limitations and responsibilities as traditional views about marriage continue to falter,” the foundation said.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
