Woman Between Islam and Western Society
3. Western Woman
~ 134 ~
percent were divorced; and 18.9 percent were single
(i.e., never married).
Though most women continued to marry, the
average age at first marriage increased from 21 to 24
years between 1970 and 1988, and marriage tended
to become a kind of way-station for many, only one
of several different, and now acceptable, “family
types.” After entering adulthood, many women will
live with a man prior to marriage. Such “co-
habitation” outside of marriage, as it is called, was
uncommon prior to 1970. In that year the U.S.
Bureau of the Census counted 523,000 households
with two unrelated adults of the opposite sex; by
1984 the number had grown to nearly two million.
For most women such co-habitation is a temporary
stage before marriage. But statistics do show that
while at least five out of six young women in 1985
will marry, lifelong singleness (possibly in
combination with one or more co-habiting
relationships) is becoming more acceptable and
common.
21
Not only has the divorce rate soared, but the birth
rate (i.e., the number of live births for each 1000
