In the future, you will be alone.
Almost half of you anyway, according to a new Morgan Stanley report that projects that by 2030 45% of women will be single in America. This is, of course consistent with the rest of the world where more and more women not only are, but are encouraged to focus on themselves, rather than finding “love” and starting a family - mainly for economic reasons. (In China today, still, as with most of the world historically, married women are explicitly paid less, and excluded for jobs due to the “risk” of them getting pregnant.)
Well, according to the Morgan Stanley numbers, more and more of us are dodging that bullet. Women in the developed world are already getting more degrees than men, and the gender wage penalty (for women without children) has reversed in favour of females and single women, in general, live longer than married ones! All we had to give up in exchange was the prospect of biological immortality and the “happily ever after fairytail ending.
Is it any coincidence that the “life audit” are search for meaning beyond money is gaining momentum at the same time?
Has the economy (or the individual) really gained here?
What is work-life balance without a home life?
I don’t know, but that is an awful lot of independent single ladies - a whole new and growing demographic for businesses to market to in new ways that seek to fill what’s missing.
Read more:
Reversed gender pay gap (if you don’t have a family) : https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/01/28/how-big-is-the-wage-penalty-for-mothers
So many single ladies: https://medium.com/hello-love/study-predicts-45-of-women-will-be-single-by-2030-1fbc99bad6a8#:~:text=It's%20estimated%20that%2045%25%20of,t%20getting%20married%20young%20anymore.
Going solo, overseas : https://www.theflashpacker.net/solo-travel-statistics-trends/
Lonely later in life : https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/11/jennifer-aniston-ivf-pregnancy-journey-zero-regrets-not-having-kids-allure-magazine-cover
All the single ladies