There are many misconceptions about why people marry. One popular belief is that men marry for love and women marry for convenience or financial security. In fact, a study by Pew Research Center found that in the US, more women than men have married someone they’ve met online or in person outside of their family and friends. They say this indicates that love may not be the main reason why women choose to get married. A second study, conducted by Rutgers University, also shows that men do marry for love more often than women.
In fact, when polled women mention numerous different factors other than love as reasons why they desire marriage. Some may get married because they want to have children or because they feel like they need to get married in order to be happy. While other women may get married for financial reasons or because they are afraid of being alone. Love was so far down on their list, it didn’t make it into their top five reasons whereas when the same number of men were polled 93% of them put love as their number one answer.
It’s easy to understand why this is. For women there are many benefits to marriage, including legal and social protection, financial security, and emotional support. Marriage also provides stability for women, allowing them to obtain stability in their daily lives that they normally wouldn’t be able to obtain on their own. This is typically not the case for men. If anything, men are put under a larger emotional and financial burden as a part of marriage so their reasons to do so are inherently different.
The age at which a man marries also plays a role in how he views marriage. Younger men are much more likely to be in marriages and therefore have different priorities from older men. This is why younger men are the most likely to marry for love. The things that these men want in a wife, such as being able to financially protect them and their families and be the ones in charge of the nuclear home are based solely out of love, caring and nurturing for the other person. Even older men that are typically more motivated by social isolation and financial security will compromise those things for a woman they love.
It’s widely known that the majority of all divorces are initiated by women, and not for the reason you think. When given this statistic most women assume that this is because the husband was unfaithful but it’s not. The number one reason women initiate divorce is because they feel like they’ve “outgrown” their husband. This is more proof that women are in relationships for what they can get out of them, rather than the person they’re with.
This is extremely important information to be aware of and understand, especially if you’re dating or looking for a relationship. Keep these things in mind when evaluating your partner and don’t get so caught up in your own emotions that you make a decision that could potentially have negative effects on your life for a significant amount of time.
