Modern women in no hurry to marry
Carrick-on-Shannon, 29 January 1916 - The ‘Mother and Home’ column in the Leitrim Observer has noted the modern tendency of women to decline marriage – or at least to defer it:
‘The girl who is in no hurry to find a sweetheart is to be seen on every side, and indeed there has grown up amongst us a large section of maidens who are perfectly indifferent as to whether they remain spinsters for the term of their natural lives, or whether they ultimately become wives. It is amusing to note that the great body of bachelors hold themselves responsible for the present condition of affairs. Ask any one of them to explain the decline in the popularity of marriage, and with sublime conceit he will inform you that it is attributable to man’s reluctance to enter into the bonds of matrimony. A more ridiculous view of the case could scarcely be conceived. The truth is, not that wives are not as sought after as ever, but that there are fewer girls who are prepared to undertake the risks attendant upon a rush into matrimony. The 1916 girl with brains is discriminating, and has no liking for leaps in the dark; before she consents to marry she wants to be reasonably sure of the future. She has her serious side, and realising that marriage is a serious institution she is not so foolish as to regard every Tom, Dick and Harry who crosses her path as a possible husband.’
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
