http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/article/0,,9004-2002055531,00.html
The Sunday Times, London SUNDAY FEBRUARY 03 2002 JOHN HARLOW, LOS ANGELES
YOUNG American women, boosted by well-paid jobs and setting ever higher standards of behaviour for their men, are walking out on marriage in record numbers, according to US census figures to be published next month.
More than 1m women in their twenties will marry this year, but on current trends fewer than half will be with the same man in five years. They will have exhausted the prospects in what social analysts call the starter marriage, a halfway house between living together and a second marriage intended to produce children.
Two-thirds of divorce proceedings in America are started by women, and research indicates they are increasingly unwilling to put up with the irritations of domestic life, not to mention boredom in the bedroom. Instead, they seek a fresh start with another man.
This is especially true among the the 21 to 37-year-olds, called Generation X by analysts. In Gen X, women initiate three-quarters (75%) of divorce proceedings.
The Gen X-ers marry later than their parents, typically at 25 for women and 27 for men. They opt for a white wedding, which in New York or Los Angeles now costs an average of 50,000. But many couples then hit an emotional wall, with a quarter of marriages failing within two years.
The figures show that couples who marry after living together for more than two years stand a more than 50% chance of getting divorced. The longer they have lived together, the greater the likelihood of failure.
Dr George Worgul, of Duquesne Universitys Family Institute in Pittsburgh, blamed higher romantic expectations. Fifty years ago women thought about practical considerations such as the economic prospects of a potential mate. Love was often expected to grow later.
Today love is the first consideration and, if it does not live up to expectations, then many women will seek it elsewhere, resulting in higher levels of adultery among married women and marital breakdown.
At the same time young women are less willing to put up with infidelity, physical abuse or other bad behaviour by their husbands. They often earn as much as their men, so now they can afford to start again.
Men, by contrast, are lazy: they are willing to put up with a lack of intimacy and poor communications provided they have access to regular sex, and are often shocked when women decide to call it a day. <more at URL>