This study, giving attention to the late marriages of women(the main cause of low birth rate), aims to 1) explore the living world of unmarried females along with the reason behind late marriages while looking at the main determinants of marriage decisions; 2) investigate the causal structures between female's age at marriage and childbirth. Specifically, this research examines not only what single females think of marriage and their value and attitude of family, but also the living world around them, future prospects and expectations of labor environment and one's occupation, judgments on work-family balance, and the order of priority regarding work, marriage, and childbirth. The causal structural analysis was performed based on the women's age at marriage and their number of children.
The founding from this research is as follows:
First, the subjects of this study, single women of age between 29 and 44, had at least graduated from community colleges(76.9%) and were employed(96.5%). More than half of them were performing general office work and held an administrative position(62.9%) and had permanent employee status(75.1%). Such stable occupational status increases the expectation of single females on balancing work and family life. However, the very same status can hinder unmarried women from getting married. In fact, by looking at married women, we found that females with higher occupational status got married at later age with fewer number of children while the main subjects of this study, single women thought of their career as not having any negative effect on their willingness to get married or the very judgment of doing so. However, unmarried females were less satisfied with maternity leave, had negative understanding of corporate culture discriminating women and heavy dependency on women regarding childbirth and nurturing, despite their stable occupational status. These factors, along with their stable occupational status, increase the opportunity cost of marriage for females.
Meanwhile, more than half of single females responded that there is no such thing as a marriageable age and showed higher receptivity on various family forms and gender role equality. In addition, the importance of childbirth and children in amicable family life was well received. Unmarried females also seemed to have internalized the notion that parents should sacrifice for their children. According to the earlier studies, the more they agree on the value of children and accept the responsibility of parents on children, they were more likely to have positive perspective on getting married and childbirth. However, there is a possibility that parenting role and heavy burden of responsibility might have a negative effect on deciding to get married and to give birth.
Secondly, while unmarried women in general are showing positive inclination and attitude toward marriage and childbirth, the group with higher education and income level(especially single females in their early 30s) is showing higher inclination of marriage and childbirth compared to that of other single female groups. The reason they are not married yet despite such high inclination of marriage and childbirth can be attributed to their awareness of change in socioeconomic status related to marriage. In other words, more than few single females are mentioning the burdensome nature of giving birth and nurturing while recognizing the difficulty of balancing work-family balance, workplace discrimination, and the pressure of becoming a parent. Thus, such hesitation on getting married and giving birth could imply how big the pressure women deal with by getting married and giving birth has on their inclination on marriage. This explanation is also supported by the logistic regression analysis of the inclination of marriage. That is, for unmarried females, the sense and attitude toward family and marriage, how they perceive of marital resources and work-family balance, and the perception of marital opportunity costs are all affecting the inclination on getting married negatively. This result shows how opportunity costs women have to either give up or be burdened with are making single females be more hesitant of getting married.
Thirdly, in order to examine the relationship between late marriage and low fertility, this study examined the marital and family values of married women, characteristics of their spouse and age at the time of marriage, and number of children while analyzing the interrelationship between these factors based on their responses. As a result of analysis, not only sociodemographical characteristics(such as age, income level, and occupational position) but also marriage and family related values of married women played significant role in determining their age at the time of marriage and the number of children. More specifically, receptivity toward various family forms and children related values had a significant impact on both the age they got married and the number of children they had. What is surprising is that such value related factors showed as much explanatory power as socio-demographic(in case of the age at the time of marriage) and demographic factors(in case of the number of children). What is important is that the age at the time of marriage and the number of children showed strong, negative causal relationship(B=-.375). The fact that late marriage is the main factor of low fertility is proven empirically.
Lastly, as more than half of married women experienced marriage and childbirth halting their employment status, it can be said that giving birth and nurturing is still a major actor in ending females’ career. Also, both single and married females are aware of the various discrimination experience of married mother who have children while maintaining work-family balance, and some single women were not shy of expressing their willingness to quit working at the time of their marriage. Thus, in low fertility society, creating a work environment where maintaining work-family balance is deemed an important policy related matter. According to the research findings, these women showed the strong signs of child centrism and high level of receptivity toward various family forms, and their age, educational level and occupational position played a significant role in their marital age and the number of children. It can be said that low fertility is not the result of these women not internalizing marriage and children related values. The opposite might be true. The fact that fertility is low despite high level of child centrism can be implying its relationship with the high level of responsibility and the reality where maintaining work-family balance is near impossible without lowering their occupational status.