A Degree Of Stability

Ladies, did you know, that you are more likely to get married or be part of a de-facto relationship if you have a degree? According to research, statistics apparently show that just under two decades ago, the least-educated women in our society were more destined for marriage. Today however, it’s the reverse. And apparently this data has troubling implications for the birth rate.

The number of marriages has a close correlation to the birth rate in this country. Recently though, the marriage rate has been dropping for women in their late 20’s/early 30’s and since the uneducated women out there are the ones having more children (especially when married) this is causing concern. Whether uneducated women have more time to devote to families if they have not chosen a profession or have more children for another reason, the percentage of married women aged 35-39 with at least one child under 14 has remained about the same for the past 15 years, so people have started asking why.

In addition to this, I also read that a demographer, Bob Birrell, believes social planners must address the decline in marriage if they are to reverse falling fertility rates. So what I now want to ask, is what does he propose they do about it. Maybe there could be something in it for us. I mean, to help boost the property market we now have the first home-buyers incentive and to encourage all those would-be mums out there, they have introduced the baby bonus. If they want to increase the marriage rate maybe they should create a wedding grant. Even if they didn’t go as far as throwing money at you, they could always sponsor matchmaking companies or something else useful. Don't you think?

But don’t be surprised if that doesn’t happen at all. And also don’t despair if you don’t have that piece of paper with fancy letters on it. Despite the trend towards the settling down by degrees, there is still a very large percentage of women without them who are finding love in life and hey, even if it takes some of us a little longer than others, the journey is worth it right?