When we think of Asian values, we tend to think in stereotypical terms: tradition. While divorce is still uncommon, the face of marriage in East Asia is changing.
According to report in the Economist, people aren't just postponing marriage till later in richer countries like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong, many are remaining unmarried, full stop.
"A whopping third of Japanese women in their early 30s are unmarried; probably half of those will remain so. More than one-fifth of Taiwanese women in their late 30s are single; most will never marry."
One reason for this: more women are working and gaining higher education. Another: with divorce laws so strict, some women may steer clear of a knot that cannot easily be untied.
Another still: cultural mores dictate that women still bear the brunt of domestic responsibility with married Japanese women doing an average of 30 hours' housework on top of a 40-hour work week, with husbands doing just three.
But the old maid trend has serious repercussions in a country where women have invested little in the way of pensions and social security, assuming their families will look after them when they get old or ill.
What of the fate of the Japanese spinster, then? Do you see this trend carrying over to the West? Why/why not?
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