>And although marriage is, as you say, a vile patriarchal tradition, women as a rule are big fans. Well, big fans of the wedding ceremony anyhow. I suppose it isn't quite the same thing.
There are good and bad reasons for that. The bad reason is that women gain legitimacy and value by cleaving to a man, that's the male supremacist part. The good reason is that marriage is a stated public commitment that a guy will stick around when you have a child. Doesn't always work, but it's better than nothing. And before paternity testing, it was the only way to guarantee that if he didn't stick around, he'd at least have to take financial responsibility. So, you see, it's actually some protection. You know, state intervention in that 'private relationship.'
In countries that have pretty generous welfare states, with public child allowances and childcare, there's less need to marry for this reason, so--to the horror of various authorities--marriage rates have gone down.
Jenny Brown