Mawwiage

Apparently 20 years ago a woman was more likely to be killed by a terrorist than marry after the age of 40. I can't say from personal experience if this felt true, because 20 years ago I was more concerned with Baby Food Bananas and Pookie the blankie than my potential future spinsterdom. But I can say that reading Newsweek's revisiting of this statement and the issue of women and marriage in general brings a modicum of relief to my ever-aging, still beauless heart.

Marriage is a popular topic in the twentysomething life. Lots of us are in the middle of trying it; the rest of us are freaked out by it, and will continue to be so until we meet someone to go googly-eyed over or until societal and biological pressure drives us to desperation. You can guess which camp I'm firmly in. I really can't imagine being married right now. I'm much too independent, or selfish; same thing, really. But that doesn't mean I don't ever want to give it a go. Just not this decade.

The new Newsweek article has lots of encouraging trends for gals like me. For example, 25 is the median marriage age for women, but for women with graduate degrees it's 29. Relationships are becoming more egalitarian as women earn similar paychecks with men. (There's still a way to go on that one, but that's a subject for another feminist rant.) Around 90% of baby boomers were or are married. So spinsterdom is unlikely, but I might start stockpiling cats just in case.

Thank God things are changing for the better. Thank God I'm not living in Jane Austen's time. I would be quite in trouble if what Lydia says in Pride and Prejudice were still true:

"Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three and twenty!"