Many young men today tend to delay marriage until they reach 30 or 40 years of age due to several reasons including the high expenses of marriage and the misconception that marriage is not an easy journey and requires the man to get ready to meet a long list of demands by wives.
Amjad Ismaeel, an employee at an educational center, believes that young men do not want to get married these days because they are worried about the costs as well as the post-marriage expenses.
“Today living expenses are on the increase. It is getting extremely difficult to get by in life. Besides, young women have more demands and young men are aware of this fact. In the past, young women wanted to get married to become independent and leave the family home, so that they could go out and meet up with friends and enjoy greater freedom. Things have changed now. Young women want husbands who can guarantee a better life where they can travel, live in beautiful houses and eat at fancy restaurants,” she said.
Hayat Al-Nasser, a supervisor at a women’s training center, said the trend of late marriage also affected young women, making them miss the train of marriage sometimes. She agrees that the high demands of young women is one of the reasons why young men refrain from getting married these days. Some young women prefer to marry men who are 15 years older because they are better off. She said families could play an effective role in educating young women about the importance of not making high demands because such things pose a lot of financial difficulties for young men.
Al-Nasser advised young men to plan their life well and advised young women not to burden their future husbands with a lot of financial burdens. Would-be husbands and wives should support one another, she said.
Latiah Hameed, a family counselor, said marriage is based on mutual respect and love between husband and wife. Therefore, choosing one’s partner should be made carefully and should not be done in haste. One of the reasons why marital problems occur is the poor choice. Another is immaturity of one of the spouses or both. It is important that a spouse should have a mature personality before making the decision to get married and should realize what they are going to expect. Several studies have blamed unemployment and lack of job opportunities for young men delaying marriage.
Other studies have blamed parents for their failure to instill the values of independence in their children’s minds at an early age and explain to them later when becoming adults what marriage entails and what type of responsibilities come with marriage.
Many young men fail in the first year of marriage itself because they cannot bear the responsibilities toward their other half in terms of finance and maintenance. Moreover, a large number of young men have started thinking twice before getting married because the fear of failure or divorce.
SOURCE : SAUDIGAZETTE
