Why Do Women Marry Men They Don’t Love?
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I wrote an article about men marrying women they don’t love and their reasoning behind it. I didn’t write this article because I think it’s solely a male phenomenon.
On the contrary, women have been forced to marry men they didn’t love for centuries. They had to do it because the marriage was arranged or demanded, as their families saw them as a burden and financial responsibility to be passed on to a man who was willing to take her off their hands. Sometimes their families even paid a dowry to the groom for assuring a future for their daughter. Nothing was worse than an unmarried woman of a certain age. Or, they got married because they didn’t have any other options.
Even for most of the twentieth century, women didn’t have the same education/career opportunities as men. Because of this, they had to get married to survive. What else would they do? They could stay at home with their families and be a spinster or become one of the rare women who made a life for herself. These women were far from the norm and it took a lot of grit to become a self-made woman. They were also not appreciated or respected by society.
Given this history — it should not be shocking that women are statistically less likely than men to marry someone that they do not love. There are fewer advantages for women to get married these days. In fact, it is well known that men benefit more from marriage than women. Married men are better off than single men. Married women, on the other hand, are not better off than unmarried women. Married men have better health, wealth, and happiness than single men. Also, 70% of divorces are initiated by women. Divorce was not legal in America until 1969. So, if you think couples from back in the day were stronger — they weren’t. They simply didn’t have an option to divorce.
To make matters worse — recently a Twitter thread brought attention to the fact that when married women become sick, their husbands leave. Data shows that nearly one third of married couples with an ill spouse become divorced. The study revealed…
